I was wondering if any of you have read this book:index. Bylsma is one of my favorite cellists and I'm finding it weird, fascinating, and extremely edifying. It's an argument to take Anna Magdalena Bach's versions of the Cello Suites -- and in particular her markings -- seriously -- and an edition of the suites. It's also Bylsma's thoughts about how to play the movement of each suite, the musical background (i.e. Gabrielli) against which Bach wrote, and lots and lots of idiosyncratic, opinionated, and polemical asides.
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Double Bass Bylsma's Bach the Fencing Master
- Thread starter garrett2
- Start date
His book and playing totally changed the way I (as a total amateur!!) think about, approach and try to play the Suites.
Yes! It's a great tome and resource for playing the suites. It's actually difficult to find Bach suites in print without heavy revision. The Anna Magdalena (via Bylsma) bowings are almost always more practical for bass than heavily revised editions like Fournier. His curmudgeonly rants are pretty funny to me as well.
I'm not a musicologist but I have to say I'm not sure about some of the ways he's interpreted where slurs start and end. He, however, seems quite sure of himself.
My other favorite bach resource is Inbal Segev's channel:
