Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites are considered fundamental pieces on the instrument’s repertoire. Performing them, however, is a “tour de force” for the musician, due to their technical complexity and few annotations in the original scores.
Bach probably composed them between the years 1717-23, when he served as chapel master in the German city of Köthen. As usual in the Baroque musical suite, after the “prelude” that starts each one of the suites, the other movements are based on typical Baroque dances. For years, Raïff Dantas Barreto listened and analyzed several versions, finding in some greater stylistic freedom, and, in others, greater fidelity to the score. However, in all of them a common point stood out: reverence.
Of all the recordings, he was especially touched by the performance by Aldo Parisot, the first Brazilian cellist to record the suites. In this album, Dantas Barreto interprets the first three suites, imprinting on them his personal sound signature. In his plans, he intends to record the three remaining suites, thus completing the cycle of the six suites written by the German composer.