I just discovered Robert Cohen a great cellist and overall string player. In this video he is playing the cello suites of bach—the Sarabande for Cello Suite No. 1 is this one. This is a great piece with great doubling and cello harmonies if you are in need of some music to help you through a touch spell in life. The cello in this excerpt just brings out longing and perhaps sadness to those who hear it. The heart is moved beyond words. The music longs to have you. The spirit is sad but yet awakened by the notes and the nuances that are taken. The cello longs for a world all its own. It seeks to be identified. It is in this music that one can find deep meditation for their soul and to feed their spirit positively. The grace with which the music is played is so rich that little is left that hasn’t been desired and all should be moved and comforted who hear it. This music does what all music tries to do—diminish any pain or and longings that the composer or the listeners may have. The spirit of longing is summed up all throughout the set. Just a few listens will reveal this. Skill is another thing that I get from this. One must practice a ton to get the kind of performance that would be required to pull of such performances as this. Patience is another attribute to the time it takes to pull of a performance like this. That is the plain brilliance that a maestro, cellist and conductor in the greatest sense. Cohen even hosts pod talks and classes displaying his skills and how to attain them.
The sweetness of thirds and sixths throughout the entire movement lulls us into a hypnotic gesture. What else is there to say or determine? Cohen is one of the greats to play Bach’s music for strings. There are many more recordings by him with other Bach string pieces that one should check out, although Cello Suite No.1 is probably the best in the entire collection. I definitely would recommend listening to all the music for cello and other strings that is on the selection. It really will be great for the ears.
