6 Suites for Solo Cello, BWV 1007-1012

Written around 1720 in Cöthen, then treated as studies for nearly two centuries — until the thirteen-year-old Pablo Casals found a copy in a Barcelona second-hand shop, practised them for twelve years before playing one in public, and spent half a lifetime recording them. Each suite is a prelude plus five dances, running from the purity of No. 1 in G to the darkness of No. 5 in C minor and the brilliance of No. 6 (written for a five-stringed instrument). Hearing all six in one sitting takes about two and a half hours; it is a pilgrimage.