Bach, J S: Cello Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV1012 - CD

“Tortelier echoed Casals, saying 'First comes Bach - then all the others'. His edition is festooned with symbols coolly analysing every bow-stroke, but their synthesis in his playing is passionate and defies changing fashions. Essential listening.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 *****

“Queyras is master of his instrument. Intonation is well-nigh impeccable, including meeting Bach's demands of a five-string cello on a normal four-strong instrument… He's an exciting player. He sustains harmonic bass-notes though, most notably in the first Prelude where the superb acoustic of a church in Sulzberg in southern Germany allows the harmony to build up dramatically.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 *****

“In a crowded field, Queyras has absorbing and original things to say about these great works and his set can be very warmly recommended.” International Record Review

“A recording of all six of Bach's suites by the choice young cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras is in the offing from the Harmonia Mundi label, so it was particularly opportune to have a foretaste of his approach in this lunchtime recital… Queyras's playing has a magnetic quality and a spectrum of nuances that, in these solo circumstances, generated interpretations of great subtlety, sensibility and radiance… There was perhaps no more perfect antidote to the Bank Holiday tumult of Oxford Street than Queyras's Bach suite. …There was no hint of ostentation or overstatement in any of this, but only an affecting naturalness from a musician who has clearly thought deeply about the music and the emotional range it conveys.” The Times

“A completely new and inspiring benchmark for this unique tour de force” BBC Music Magazine, 1st June 2007

“the stuff of legend” The Independent (on Steven Isserlis)

“Isserlis is a passionate musician, but never thoughtless or frivolous, and the delicacy of his responses on this wonderful set sometimes take the breath away. If your soul fails to quiver in the quiet depths of the fifth suite’s sarabande, then you must be a robot in disguise. Yet he’s not on his knees always worshipping: time and again Isserlis asserts the music’s dance roots, whether through his thrusting accents or by sweeping through with a winning lilt … Just listen to Isserlis, Bach and your heart, and the music that never dies” The Times

“Isserlis couples scholarly depth with technical wizardry and exuberant passion. Time stands still at the intensely moving Fifth Sarabande. Supreme recordings.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011

“Isserlis has done the impossible. He has given the listener something new, and indeed something outstandingly good...He suggests that their expressive journey marks them as “Mystery Suites”, travelling from the nativity...to the Resurrection...Unusual as the decision is, it does work.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 22nd May 2007

“…this… the most wonderful cello-playing, surely among the most consistently beautiful to have been heard in this demanding music, as well as the most musically alert and vivid. …few will fail to be charmed by Isserlis's sweetly singing tone, his perfectly voiced chords and superb control of articulation and dynamic - the way the final chord of the First Prélude dies away is spellbinding.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2007

“Steven Isserlis clearly venerates Casals as an important figure in the suites' history, even paying touching homage to him by appending a performance of a Catalan folksong. Like Casals, Isserlis bided his time before committing them to disc, and he has looked for interpretative guidance to extra-musical ideas.
Isserlis proposes a detailed concept. For him the Suites suggest a meditative cycle on the life of Christ, rather like Biber's Mystery Sonatas.
He points out that this is 'a personal feeling, not a theory', but it has to be said that once you know that he is thinking of the Agony in the Garden during the darkly questioning Second Suite (the five stark chords towards the end of the Prélude representing the wounds of Christ), the Crucifixion in the wearily troubled Fifth or the Resurrection in the joyous Sixth, it adds immense power and interest to his performances.
But then, this is also the most wonderful celloplaying, surely among the most consistently beautiful to have been heard in this demanding music, as well as the most musically alert and vivid. Not everyone will like the brisk tempi (though the Allemandes, for instance, gain in architectural coherence), but few will fail to be charmed by Isserlis's sweetly singing tone, his perfectly voiced chords and superb control of articulation and dynamic – the way the final chord of the First Prélude dies away is spellbinding.
There are so many other delights: the subtle comings and goings of the Third Prélude, the nobly poised Fifth Allemande, the swaggering climax that is the Sixth Gigue – to name but a few. Suffice to say that Isserlis's Bach is a major entrant into an already highly distinguished field, and a disc many will want to return to again and again.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Truls Mørk's formidable technique is evident in fine recordings of Romantic cello repertoire. For Bach, he's admirably restrained - light transparent tone, minimal vibrato, and subdued dynamic range.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2006 ***

“No longer do we have to look to period instrument players for stylistic awareness. In Mørk's case, correctness doesn't lead to a reserved manner: rather, the style of each piece releases a creative spirit allowing him to play freely and flexibly while keeping the structure clear. Mørk's chord playing is one of the most impressive aspects of his technique - in the Sixth Suite the chords in the Sarabande have a memorable expressive effect, while in the following Gavotte they give a beautiful lift to the rhythm. ...these are commanding performances, inspired by the composer's own unquenchable spirit.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2006

“Rostropovich responds to the atmospheric location of a French cathedral with performances penetrated by a deep melancholy.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011