Album Notes

Bach: Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, on 4 different cellos.

This unique recording of all six of J.S. Bach's Cello Suites sets side by side the different sounds of historic and new instruments and compares their strengths and weaknesses.

Bach’s Cello Suites have been recorded on modern instruments, baroque cellos and even on guitar, viola da gamba, saxophone and marimba, but never before has one musician assembled a recording that showcases these suites using four very different cellos.

Five of the six suites in this recording are played on three cellos:
a contemporary but antique cello built ca. 1870 in Mirecourt, France, for the 1st and 4th suites
a baroque cello, much like a cello that would have been used in Bach’s time for the 2nd and 5th suites
a hyper-modern carbon fibre cello for the 3rd suite
The 6th suite is played on a custom built 5 string violoncello piccolo, another baroque instrument, arguably much like it might have been played in Bach’s time.

To give the listener the opportunity to compare the instruments, the 5th suite is played three times: on the Baroque cello within the sequence of suites, and again on the Mirecourt cello and on the Carbon Fibre cello on the fourth CD.

The 4 CD set includes 52 pages of English/French liner notes and a detailed sound analysis of the different instruments.

CD1:
Suite 1 on Contemporary cello
Suite 2 on Baroque cello

CD2:
Suite 3 on Carbon fibre cello
Suite 4 on Contemporary cello

CD3:
Suite 5 on Baroque cello
Suite 6 on Violoncello Piccolo

CD4 : (ADDITIONAL)
Suite 5 on Contemporary cello
Suite 5 on Carbon fibre cello

A versatile musician, Josephine van Lier is equally at ease on a baroque cello or a 5 string violoncello piccolo as on their contemporary counterparts, using instruments and bows whose designs, construction and material span over 400 years in origin; from the gut strings of her baroque cello to her 1870 cello and the space-age material of her carbon-fibre cello. She therefore covers a wide variety of repertoire utilizing the endless possibilities that this range of instruments, string set-ups and bows allow her.
Born, raised and educated in the Netherlands, she has lived in Edmonton, Canada since 1995.
She is recipient of the "Celebration of Women in the Arts Award" from the Edmonton Arts Council.