![]() The author has done a wealth of research in pursuit of his new passion, and he writes engaginglythis intrepid writer has worked hard to interest readers in his musical obsession, and there is a great deal to chew on here.”Priscilla S. The ironies of artistic genius and public taste are subtly explored in this winding, entertaining tale of a musical masterpieceSiblin is an insightful writer with an ability to convey the sound and emotional impact of music in words.” Publishers WeeklyĮngaging and imaginativea charming narrative.”Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times Siblin winds up mixing high and low musical forms, art and political histories, Bach’s and Casals’s individual stories and matters of arcane musicology into a single inquisitive volume.”Janet Maslin, The New York Times Awesome.”Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-TimesĪ work of ever-percolating interest. ![]() Best of all, The Cello Suites makes us want to pop in a CD and really listen to those cello suites. This is rich terrain, and Siblin’s book is an engrossing combination of musical and political history spiced with generally vivid descriptions of the cello suites themselves has given us a compelling portrait of a passionate, prickly Bach, of Casals, a musician who was also politically engaged, and an engrossing cast of secondary characters. Siblinrises to the taskRead The Cello Suitespreferably with their melodious hum in the backgroundand you will never look at a cello in quite the same way again.” The Economist Siblin’s book is well researched, and filled with enough anecdotes to engage even the classical-music aficionadobut the book is best distinguished by its writing. Vividly chronicles international search for the original, and unfound, Bach scoreMr. A fascinating story deftly toldand, for me at least, ideally read with Bach’s thirty-six movements playing softly in the background a recipe for literary rapture.”Simon Winchester, author of the New York Times best-seller The Professor and the Madman This is one of the most extraordinary, clever, beautiful, and impeccably researched books I have read in years. ![]() Siblin pursues the mysteries that continue to haunt this music more than 250 years after its composer's death: Why did Bach compose the suites for the cello, then considered a lowly instrument? What happened to the original manuscript? A seamless blend of biography and music history, The Cello Suites is a true-life journey of discovery, fueled by the power of these musical masterpieces. Casals played them every day for twelve years before finally performing them in public. The search led Siblin to Barcelona, where Casals, just thirteen and in possession of his first cello, roamed the backstreets with his father in search of sheet music and found Bach's lost suites tucked in a dark corner of a store. ![]() Winner of the Mavis Gallant Prize for Nonfiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize, The Cello Suites weaves together three dramatic narratives: the disappearance of Bach's manuscript in the eighteenth century Pablo Casals's discovery and popularization of the music in Spain in the late-nineteenth century and Siblin's infatuation with the suites in the present day. One evening, journalist Eric Siblin attended a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites and began an epic quest that would unravel three centuries of intrigue, politics, and passion.
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