about this recording:
About the instruments In Bach’s time, three very different types of violoncello were played. A very large violoncello, which in the late seventeenth century the Italians called „violone,“ and the French „basse de violon,“ was used mainly for continuo and orchestral playing, but also as a solo instrument. For the First Suite, I chose such an instrument. This violone has a corpus length of 80 cm and a very thick neck; it’s distinguishing characteristic is a very sonorous low register. For the Third Suite, I used a smaller solo instrument such as that preferred since the late-seventeenth century for virtuoso and soloistic cello music. The violoncello for the Fifth Suite corresponds in form and size to today’s standard, which gradually became established around 1720.
The chamber pitch (Kammerton) also corresponds to the practices at the court of Cöthen around 1720. This French chamber pitch of 392 Hz lies a whole tone lower than today’s A.

Instruments used, made by Reinhard Ossenbrunner:
Large violoncello (violon) after Domenico Galli, Parma 1691, Cologne 1990
smaller violoncello after italian models round 1720, Altwistedt 1985
v ioloncello after Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Piacenza 1743, Köln 1993

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