| Here's another thought...
I play that one fifth down (written one fourth up), in G minor.
Lays really well on the bass, especially if you use extended fingerings, starting with the first finger on the G string's first D.
Some key moments, like the climax of the Prelude, for example, happen in the first thumb position, with the thumb on the octave. Handy.
Many harmonics can be used with this key, too.
My former teacher had me play the Suites transposed like this because:
- in this key, they lay in a place on the bass that corresponds to the place on the 'cello for which they were intended (roughly the same place on the instrument, that is to say).
- for the above reason, they let the bass speak well (longer string length).
- this key was a good place for me to start working on the Suites when I was a student; it got me playing Bach Suites without requiring me to have a prodigious thumb position technique (not that having monster TP is a bad thing!)
I used Janos Starker's bowings, initially, for the most part. I transposed by hand; the Sterling edition has some notes that don't agree with how I have heard most folks play them. Sometimes now, though, I play some movements with single bows and/or minimal notes per bow, unlike Starker's edition.
I started learning the Suites, like everything else, by singing/memorizing them, then with single bows to work out fingerings, then with open strings to get the right hand, then combining them.
Just another idea. Folks have many opinions on this issue...
Last edited by Eric Swanson : 07-31-2008 at 10:10 AM.
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