Best Version of Bach Cello Suites?

[bodiebill]

My favorites are

Wispelwey 1998

Jian Wang 2003/2004

Isserlis 2005/2006

Gastinel 2007

Wispelwey 2012

Also very good:
Bylsma 1979

Wispelwey 1990

Bylsma 1992

Gaillard 2001

Kniazev 2003 (slightly eccentric)

 

Not all bad but no longer in my collection:

Casals 1938
Fournier 1959
Kirshbaum 1993
Beschi 1996/1998
Berger 1997
Tunnicliffe 2010/2011
Enders 2012/2013
Watkins 2013

 

All very personal of course.

 

 

 

[bodiebill]

Interesting to see that many prefer this music as refurbished by the (post-)19th century romantic tradition, with excessive rubati, dynamics and vibrato. Paradoxically such performances mostly leave me cold.

[bodiebill]

58 minutes ago, Al Jones said:

Zuill Bailey performs on an instrument from 1693 (Octave Records, recorded in DSD). This is my personal favorite version, followed closely by David Watkins.

 

Thanks, I did not know that one. Rather mannered to my ears and his intonation seems off. I find that Bach benefits from performers that do not put their ego before his. 

[bodiebill]

15 minutes ago, Dandou said:

Yes there was, because it's a good transcription for violin, and a great interpretation.

There's no obligation to listen to it. 

Although transcribing a Chopin nocturne for anything other than a piano would be a disaster, much of Bach's chamber music is so abstract that it can be played on many instruments (harpsichord, lute, piano etc.). Sometimes he did not even stipulate the instrument himself.

[bodiebill]

I presume that not many here subscribe to the claim that the cello suites were actually composed by Anna Magdalena Bach?
https://daily.jstor.org/mrs-bach-write-cello-suites/

[bodiebill]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

Jud, I have no reason to doubt...) Of course, there are people who are experts at playing the mouth harp. Or the bagpipes, or any other thing that can be used to produce sound. There's nothing one can do about it. One can mentally ask what the fuck, and go about one's business. 

 

The original question was about which versions of the Cello Suites are the best. I think the question is very clear and suggests a clear answer. What do transcriptions for other instruments have to do with it? Perhaps I'm being too blunt, in any case obfuscating clear questions with crooked answers doesn't seem to be the point.

 

@AnotherSpin Maybe good to realize that even you prefer transcriptions. Isn't your favorite version the Casals? Who actually played the suites on an instrument quite unlike the one Bach wrote them for (larger, different strings etc.). A special case is the fifth suite which is written for a 5 string instrument, possibly a violoncello piccolo or a type of viola (which makes the Kim Kashkashian version more credible). Things are not so cut and dry as you make them appear :-)

[bodiebill]

2 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

Things appear as they appear and I have nothing to do with it. Cello is cello, violin is violin. You may continue to split the hair, and I'd better listen to some Bach. No, not on a wooden spoons, I am too dry and lazy for such experiments.

 

No problem. Everybody is entitled to their simplifications.