J.S. Bach: The Cello Suites, Vol. 1 Lynden Cranham

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007:
• 1 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude 02:48
• 2 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: II. Allemande 06:03
• 3 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: III. Courante 02:56
• 4 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: IV. Sarabande 03:13
• 5 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: V. Menuetts I & II 03:26
• 6 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: VI. Gigue 02:07
• Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008:
• 7 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Prélude 04:57
• 8 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: II. Allemande 04:01
• 9 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: III. Courante 02:19
• 10 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: IV. Sarabande 05:13
• 11 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: V. Menuetts I & II 03:49
• 12 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: VI. Gigue 03:23
• Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011:
• 13 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: I. Prélude 07:10
• 14 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: II. Allemande 05:37
• 15 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: III. Courante 02:28
• 16 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: IV. Sarabande 03:49
• 17 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: V. Gavottes I & II 05:54
• 18 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: VI. Gigue 02:30
• Total Runtime 01:11:43

Info for J.S. Bach: The Cello Suites, Vol. 1

Lynden Cranham's earliest memories of Bach were overwhelming, sitting in the huge and resonant space of Westminster Cathedral listening to an organ recital. She subsequently became fascinated (as a listener and a player) by the Bach Cello Suites. It was especially poignant for Lynden, as part of the orchestra during John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, not only to play near the font where Bach had been baptised, in the Georgenkirche in Eisenach, but also to play in Köthen, where he probably composed the Cello Suites. The idea of recording the Suites had been at the back of her mind for most of her career, and when playing part of one of them in a chamber-music concert a few years ago she realised that she'd found an ideal venue for doing such a recording: the beautiful small church of St Peter and St Mary in Fishbourne, West Sussex, complete with its warm, intimate acoustic. As one concert after another was cancelled it gradually became clear to the recording engineer, the producer and myself that, dire as this situation was, it provided the perfect opportunity to begin recording the Suites. So, braving the cold (and maintaining strict social distancing), Suites 1 and 2 were recorded in the church in December 2020. Soon after that, in April 2021, Suite No. 5 was recorded in its original scordatura version; this needed to be recorded alone, as in that way Lynden was able to keep the cello with the A string tuned down to G. Those three Suites make an interesting contrast – the first two relatively conventional in sonority, the fifth introducing something entirely different.

Lynden Cranham, baroque cello

Lynden Cranham
studied with Jennifer Ward Clarke at the Junior Royal College of Music, with Douglas Cameron at the Royal Academy of Music, and subsequently with Maurice Eisenberg in New York and Christopher Bunting in London. A keen chamber musician, Lynden toured England and Germany with the Burnell Piano Trio, and America and New Zealand with the Accordo Perfetto Piano Quartet. Her love of baroque music, and especially of playing continuo, led her to the baroque cello and soon she began to play for the Academy of Ancient Music. Lynden lived for a time in the US where she played concertos and gave recitals, and taught cello at Cornell University, but she also focused on playing in ensembles and giving recitals on baroque cello. Since leaving America she has recorded and toured widely with such groups as the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Lynden also has a long-standing interest in nineteenth-century literature, and has a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London, focusing on aspects of music in nineteenth-century London.

Booklet for J.S. Bach: The Cello Suites, Vol. 1