Suite no. 4 for Solo Cello in E-flat major, BWV1010

About this work

In Bach’s Fourth Suite in E-flat major, the prelude takes the cello through wide intervals. The bass notes return as landmarks between changes of register. Preparing a left-hand shift before leaving a sustained note helps keep the sound continuous without rushing the notes that follow.Keeping the dance through register changesThe allemande and courante continue that work on flexibility with more active groups of notes. Locate the slurs and pickup notes when planning bow changes. Practise string crossings separately, keeping the same pulse as in the complete phrase.The sarabande gives its chords more space, before the two bourrées tighten the movement. After the second, the return to the first should recover its character and tempo. The gigue closes the suite in compound metre: feel the groups of notes instead of stressing every attack.
Score and listeningThe PDF contains the complete piece for solo cello on 8 pages. The MIDI joins the seven sections; use the score for repeats, the return of the first dance and ornaments.This engraving by Andreas Scherer, distributed by the Mutopia Project, has been placed in the public domain by its author. It was typeset with LilyPond. See the Mutopia entry for credits and find more scores at LesPartitions.info.