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Thanks for the wonderful comments! I tend to vary a bit in interpretations, but less and less as time goes on I think. You can compare this video with my complete Cello Suites recording posted April 2021, and with the May 2024 album I just released (all also posted in my channel here.) I think you’ll find I tend to play with a fairly consistent flavor, but never exactly the same. Thanks again!

Its a Mandolin

@@thefrenchpoet3160 oh cool

I based my performance here from the Polo violin transcription, which has a B natural there specifically with the accidental.

Thanks for the reply Phil. I have read the only surviving copy of the cello suites is a transcription by Bach’s wife, and it is claimed that apparent ‘errors’ were present. Thus, available music for these often has changes made by various ‘experts’. I have learned the piece with a B flat in that measure so I will continue to play it that way. Happy picking.

@@PhilWoodhull Phil, I was intrigued by this and had to find more info. I was reminded of something I forgot: Minuet II is written in D dorian so it has a raised 6th which accounts for the B natural instead of the B flat. So now I will relearn this movement with a B natural.

Hey Phil, after more investigation I discovered two things: there exists some controversy about the dorian mode aspect of Minuet II, CS1, apparently because it appears in the Anna Magdalena transcription- but only for bars 3 and 7. Secondly, I found some references to possibly the original Bach score had been found which supposedly had an E natural in measure 3, but an E flat in measure 7. Haha, it's getting interesting. But I can say cellist Inbal Segev uses E natural in bars 3 and 7. I have a lot of confidence in Inbal so I will play as she does. Hope you are well.

@charlesfritter9686 According to the scans of the four 18th century manuscripts on jsbachcellosuites.com, the A-M and Westphal manuscripts have Eb-Enat. The Kellner manuscript has Eb-Eb. I can’t tell what the Unknown Author, late 18th century manuscript says in measure 7 (looks like C??) but measure 3 is Eb.

That’s indeed what I’ve been using almost exclusively of my Blue Chips since this video!

One can use flat-wound or flat-top strings, as I have at a couple times in the past. I think there’s a way to shift and maybe condition one’s callouses as well in ways that help, but I’m not familiar. Thile seems to squeak very little, somehow.

In terms of building up general music skills and maybe gaining extra familiarity with the fingerboard, yes. In terms of technique, no: even though the fingering is “the same,” the differences with using a fretboard vs a violin fingerboard are *juuuust* big enough to make them only moderately compatible and possibly confusing for someone still beginning with violin/fiddle. In the end, while one won’t be terribly helpful learning the technique of the other, the ability to gain overall musical skill while learning and playing multiple instruments makes the proposition net positive. Go for it!

@@PhilWoodhull thank you. 🙏🏼

I appreciate your kind words! If you’re interested, I’ve started turning these into formal albums. Volume 1 (First Suite and Second Suite) just released a bit over a week ago. It’s here on my TH-cam channel, on Spotify and basically every other streaming place, and for sale to own from iTunes, Amazon, and Qobuz. Hope it’s even more enjoyable!

Is this sarcasm?

​@Former_Employee Not at all. A true drone would sustain throughout several chord changes, even the whole song. Here, he's holding out the bass note as he plays through the several notes of the chord. It has an effect almost like a drone.

I tried so many variations of compression, and ended up with… none. I have a soft knee limiter in my mastering stage, but on this track it’s almost dormant, maybe knocks a db or two off a handful of notes.

@@PhilWoodhull Interesting! Beautifully done recording. Can I ask what converters you're using? (I'm a mandolin player and also recording engineer)

@@monologtube I recorded my Royer R-122 MkII matched pair through the built-in preamps and A-D converters on my RME Babyface Pro FS interface at 48k/24bits. I recorded the 1s and 0s into Logic Pro where I used Valhalla Room reverb, TDR Nova eq (free version, capable of compression, but again, I turned it all off), the stock stereo imager, the stock gain plugin, the stock channel EQ, and the stock limiter. Other than that, the only other big ingredient was literally two years of me playing with all the setups and settings and getting it to sound close to what I wanted.

@@PhilWoodhull Thanks for all that info! Love my Royer ribbons.