The Cello Suites
J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece
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Narrated by:
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David de Vries
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By:
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Eric Siblin
About this listen
One fateful evening, journalist Eric Siblin attended a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites and began an epic quest that would unravel three centuries of intrigue, politics, and passion. Winner of the Mavis Gallant Prize for Nonfiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize, The Cello Suites weaves together three dramatic narratives: the disappearance of Bach's manuscript in the 18th century; Pablo Casals's discovery and popularization of the music in Spain in the late-19th century; and Siblin's infatuation with the suites in the present day. The search led Siblin to Barcelona, where Casals, just 13 and in possession of his first cello, roamed the backstreets with his father in search of sheet music and found Bach's lost suites tucked in a dark corner of a store. Casals played them every day for 12 years before finally performing them in public.
Siblin pursues the mysteries that continue to haunt this music more than 250 years after its composer's death: Why did Bach compose the suites for the cello, then considered a lowly instrument? What happened to the original manuscript? A seamless blend of biography and music history, The Cello Suites is a true-life journey of discovery, fueled by the power of these musical masterpieces.
©2009 Eric Siblin (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Django Reinhardt was arguably the greatest guitarist who ever lived, an important influence on Les Paul, Charlie Christian, B.B. King, Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, and many others. Yet there is no major biography of Reinhardt. Now, in Django, Michael Dregni offers a definitive portrait of this great guitarist. Handsome, charismatic, childlike, and unpredictable, Reinhardt was a character out of a picaresque novel. Born in a gypsy caravan at a crossroads in Belgium, he was almost killed in a freak fire that burned half of his body and left his left hand twisted into a claw.
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Django in context
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Prince Albert
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- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
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Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert’s voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.
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Excellent Bio!
- By Nancy on 04-24-24
By: A. N. Wilson
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When Paris Sizzled
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When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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Informative, but no sizzle
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By: Mary McAuliffe
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Natasha's Dance
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Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
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A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
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The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the 20th century - based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019.
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Immersed in country music!
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Elton John is as much loved for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his music. Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically Elton: honest and intemperate. Tragedy and heartbreak have played a large part in his life. Behind the parties, the hedonism, the lavish stage costumes, and silly glasses lies a more somber story. Between disputes with managers, legal wranglings, public breakups, and divorce, John has been faced with serious health problems and drug addictions.
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Trite!
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Thelonious Monk
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Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
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The Florentines
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Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened that transformed the entire culture of Western civilization. Painting, sculpture, and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born - or emerge in an entirely new guise.
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Narrator ruins the narrative
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The Crown: The Official Companion, Volume 1
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Starring Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II and John Lithgow as Winston Churchill, Netflix's original series The Crown, created by Peter Morgan and growing out of his Oscar-winning movie The Queen starring Helen Mirren, paints a unique and intimate portrait of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. This official companion to the show's first season is an in-depth exploration of the early years of Elizabeth II's time as queen, complete with extensive research and additional material.
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If you like The Crown
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"The Rest of Us"
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The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the "old country" to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined.
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Book 3 of 3
- By Etoile NEOhio on 11-15-22
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What listeners say about The Cello Suites
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- RFC
- 03-13-24
Bach Stories with Brilliance
I have been a Bach fan starting in High School when I discovered his Inventions in our piano bench. Such amazing beauty. The more Bach music I encountered, the more amazed I was. In college, it was Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Beatles. I even co-constructed a synthesizer and then my wife and I programmed in some Bach to be played automagically, at which time I discovered that the Brilliance of Back seems to shine through most any crazy interpretation.
So, I could not put this book down. Getting to know Bach better was such a joy. The author's own Bach journey was quite entertaining. Tears filled my eyes at the end of the book.
The only thing that I did ot rate as 5 was the reader, as he reminded me of some truly annoying narrations on YouTube. Still, after a while, I got used to his voice, and all was well, especially nice as I can barely see after a bad cataract operation. (Thanks Audible for being extant.)
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- Kevono
- 05-27-21
Insights into the people and the music
As a beginner cellist I found this book enlightening and full of great facts. It opens your mind and ears to the music and the people involved. I am definitely better off for having listened to this book.
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- Slim Pickins
- 03-18-23
Beautifully researched, writ and organized!
This is an incredible accomplishment! Myriad, factual accounts of J.S. Bach the man and an engaging delve into the cello suites, via a fascinating history of one of history's great cellists, Pablo Casals.
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- Richard B.
- 01-31-22
A masterpiece of musical story telling
Eric Siblin has crafted a beautiful trilogy of stories (Bach, Casals and his own discovery) in a unified whole which is beautifully structured and narrated (by the author), very educational (especially for the amature musician and historian) and a joy to listen to. I highly recommend this for all ages with an interest in history and music. It may not please the snobs and academics, but for the rest of us, it makes the topics accessible and fun. Great job!
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- JazzMusicFan
- 12-21-22
The bach cello suites ..,
Bach, the cello suites, Casals, a man’s passion to find out more - what could be bad? It was wonderfully done,
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- rrs2
- 10-01-24
Pace and voice acting
The organization and parallel stories of Casal, Bach, and author kept my interest throughout the narrative.
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