The Cello Suites

One autumn evening, not long after ending a stint as a pop music critic, Eric Siblin attended a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites. There, something unlikely happened: he fell deeply in love with the music. So began a quest that would unravel three centuries of mystery, intrigue, history, politics, and passion. Part biography, part music history, and part literary mystery, "The Cello Suites" weaves together three dramatic narratives: the first features Bach and the missing manuscript of these mesmerisingly beautiful eighteenth-century pieces for solo cello; the next, the legendary cellist Pablo Casals and the historic discovery of the music in Spain in the late nineteenth century; and, the last, Eric Siblin's own infatuation with the suites in the twenty-first century. This love affair leads Siblin to the back streets of Barcelona and a Belgian mansion; to interviews with world-renowned cellists; to archives, festivals, and conferences; and, even to cello lessons - all in pursuit of answers to the mysteries that continue to haunt this music more than 250 years after its composer's death. "The Cello Suites" is a lovingly written, true-life journey of discovery, fuelled by the transcendent power of a musical masterpiece.

ISBN 1846553563   Pages 336 ISBN13 9781846553561 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 375 Publisher Vintage   Published in London Imprint Harvill Secker   Height (mm) 215 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 137 Publication date 07 Jan 2010   Spine width (mm) 25 DEWEY 787.41858092   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

One of the most extraordinary, clever, beautiful, and impeccably researched books I have read in years Simon Winchester Insightful [and] engaging ... Eric Siblin puts us in touch with the joy of discovering a new passion in life Toronto Star If Siblin is correct that 'Bach is what you make of him,' then The Cello Suites has made him, if possible, yet more legendary Quill & Quire

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