A new look at Bach’s Cello Suites

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Press Contact:
Gail Wein - (646) 484-9691
ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com

Bach: The Cello Suites out September 2025 from Cambridge University Press

Book by award-winning author Edward Klorman gives a 360º view of Bach’s iconic cello music, tracing its unlikely path from obscurity in North Germany to their outsized role in today's pop culture

“An excellent book! Full of interesting information, concisely and readably presented. A fine guide to the six miracles known as the Bach Cello Suites.” – Steven Isserlis, cellist and author

J.S. Bach's Cello Suites have a global resonance, influencing culture from Benjamin Britten's Cello Suites to J-pop, and from K-drama to Ingmar Bergman's films. Bach: The Cello Suites by the award-winning author Edward Klorman will be published September 2025 by Cambridge University Press. Klorman provides a kaleidoscopic view of the works in the forthcoming book, from historical analysis to the popularization of performances in myriad settings and the music’s influence on pop culture today.

Originally dismissed as curiosities, the Cello Suites are now viewed as the pinnacle of composition for unaccompanied cello. This handbook examines how and why Bach composed these highly innovative works. Klorman looks at the manuscript copies of Bach’s lost original and gives insight into how the Suites might be performed. He also explores how the works initially received mixed reception from critics and audiences as they entered the concert hall in the middle of the 19th century until Pablo Casals eventually popularized them, setting the paradigm for generations to follow.

Originally dismissed as curiosities, the Cello Suites are now viewed as the pinnacle of composition for unaccompanied cello. This handbook examines how and why Bach composed these highly innovative works. Klorman looks at the manuscript copies of Bach’s lost original and gives insight into how the Suites might be performed. He also explores how the works initially received mixed reception from critics and audiences as they entered the concert hall in the middle of the 19th century until Pablo Casals eventually popularized them, setting the paradigm for generations to follow.