kr0gg
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2009
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jplay.eu is an absolute winner in SQ when playing in "hibernate" mode.
jplay.eu is an absolute winner in SQ when playing in "hibernate" mode.
"The hardest thing is to achieve in interpreting Bach is the necessary equilibrium between human feelings--the heart which undoubtedly Bach possessed--and the severe, serious and profound aspect of interpretation. Bach has no shallow or transitory emotion, no momentary anger, no bad words or fleeting embraces--his emotions are as vast in scale as Shakespeare's, yet common to all people on earth, from the most northerly to the most southerly races. We all weep when we suffer, we all know tears of joy. It is these fundamental emotions that Bach transmits in his suites. They demand more than a lightweight approach, but you cannot automatically disengage your heart from the music. This was the greatest problem I had to resolve in my interpretation. I know my interpretation is not perfect--we're a long way from playing Bach to perfection. From my many friends I have learnt that I must search for a golden medium between a romantic, rhapsodic interpretation of Bach and scholastic aridity. It isn't easy, of course. It's hard to find something the heart responds to and which is not artificial to one's own nature."
- Mstislav Rostropovich
Suite #1 -- G major -- Lightness
Suite #2 -- D minor -- Sorrow and intensity
Suite #3 -- C major -- Brilliance
Suite #4 -- E flat -- Majesty and opacity
Suite #5 -- C minor -- Darkness
Suite #6 -- D major -- Sunlight
You've got the Sony Classical recording (1997), which IMO is the better of the two. The CBS Masterworks release is 1983; the mastering, possibly also due to the quality of recording, is so poor that it's distracting to listen to. The Bach suites are such a difficult thing to record, and a lot of top-tier cellists consider it one of the most humbling performances to put out there. Technically, the Suites aren't that difficult, but getting musicality out of it while remaining true to Bach's spirit is incredibly difficult. What's even more challenging is that the original score has no bowing, dynamics, or tempo listed (other than the name of the piece like Gigue) which is why you'll hear so much variation between the different interpretations, stylistically. The large criticism of Ma's recording is that he plays a very modern interpretation (possibly a bit too Romantic and rhythmically inflexible), and misses the essence of the work. It's very audible if you compare him vs Casals, for the amount of heart that goes in note for note.
Most cellists consider Casals' interpretation to be the ultimate recording, but it's challenging to listen to, because of the poor recording (1920s/1930s) and Casals' unorthodox interpretation. The Suites were actually not very popular until Casals created a lot of interest in them. I think Rostropovich and Starker (particularly the 1997 RCA Victor's Red, also possibly on Mercury) are much easier to digest before trying Casals. A lot of people also consider Pierre Fournier's interpretation to rival Casals. The Suites are the kind of thing people will play for 70+ years of their life and still never master. To quote Rostropovich on the Suites:
Good luck with your search for good cello recordings! I run across many great violin and piano performances, but cello has always been a bit challenging for audiophiles. Just something about the cello's tonality seems difficult to record, whether analog or digital.
I find Jriver 16 sounds better to my ears than Foobar 2K or AImp3 - slightly improves soundstage vs other players I use and is the only player I have tried that delivers decent soundstage.
Strangely the Jriver 17 beta I just tried sounds worse than Jriver 16. I'm pretty disappointed.
I would also try Jplay if you have a dedicated machine, but I don't have a dedicated music server yet.
If you have a lot of music you should use foobar. It's media library is amazing.