J.s. Bach: 6 Suites With Rilke Poems / Causse

Causse, Gerard

Gérard Caussé, one of the world’s great viola players, takes on the epic musical challenge of the six suites that Bach composed for cello. Joining Caussé is another distinguished French artist, the actor Laurent Terzieff, who died in 2010. Between each suite, Terzieff reads poems by the poet Rainer-Maria Rilke, Bohemian-born, but deeply influenced by French culture. The distinguished French viola player Gérard Caussé has made a number of appearances in the Virgin Classics catalogue, notably as a colleague to Renaud and Gautier Capuçon in music by Brahms and Schubert. Here, he is the sole musician, playing Bach’s Six Cello Suites, works of inexhaustible fascination and depth, in a version for viola. “Playing them on the viola is an almost unprecedented adventure,” he says. “My instrument, a 1560 Gaspard Da Salo, my musical companion for life, is resonating in these Bach suites for the first time.” Caussé is, however, joined by another performer on this 2-CD set. He is the French actor and director, Laurent Terzieff, reading poems (in French) by Rainer-Maria Rilke, the Bohemian-Austrian poet (1875 –1926), who spent a highly formative period in Paris, especially notable for his contact with the sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Price: $19.98