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Describing the album, Gandelsman says: "similar to the Sonatas and Partitas, living in the world of the cello suites feels like working in a scientist's lab - the compositions radiate with the joy of continuously finding new ways to expand the technical and emotional possibilities of the instrument, through the simple act of imagining the impossible, and then putting it down on paper. What I see is an implication for infinite possibilities, the way an incredible improviser can find endless variation within the simplest form. I've been thinking a lot about one of my favorite musicians, the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes. Seeing Martin weave together a medley of Irish tunes is very similar to seeing and experiencing amazing magic - I'm always left dumbfounded, how did he do that??? His art is never flashy, never tries to impress - it flows directly from the source material. There is a delight to it that is very similar to the joy I see in Bach's compositions, and there is also something very humble about the process. It's not setting out to change the world, or write the greatest piece ever written - instead, it's a scientist's life-long pursuit of finding out what else might be in there, what layers might still be hiding; engaging one's imagination, but also being able to then actually do what you've imagined. That's beautiful."

Track Listing

Sales Points

• First-ever recording of JS Bach's cello suites, transcribed for violin, on 180-gram, triple vinyl
• Gandelsman's previous album reached #1 on Billboard's Traditional Classical Chart, and made it onto NY Times and NY Magazine best of the year lists (2018)

Press Quotes

'To write clinically of Gandelsman's phraseology, his cadenza-like approach to tempos, or even to mention that he played the Sixth Suite, remarkably, on a five-string violin, would not relay the spell this performance cast. Weight turned into weightlessness. The music re-discovered its own origins in dance. And it seemed to speak with the naturalness of a folk song. This was an exquisitely personal vision of Bach, all radical sincerity and glinting light.'

     —Jeremy Eichler, The Boston Globe

'There are many fine recordings and several great ones of these sonatas and partitas, and now a new one by Johnny Gandelsman takes its place among the very best'

     —Lloyd Schwartz, NPR's Fresh Air

'An extraordinary CD. This is music that requires titanium technique and - even rarer - a rich inner life. Live and on disc, Gandelsman shares them both.'

     —Justin Davidson, New York Magazine

'Crisp, buoyant and with a sweet clarity of tone, it's one of the most dance-like takes on this daunting set of masterpieces'

     —Corinna Wollheim de Fonseca, The New York Times

'It may feel as if the world doesn't need yet another recording of Bach's solo works for violin or cello. But Johnny Gandelsman's contributions feel necessary ... radically weightless, at times seemingly improvisatory, and completely grounded in dance.'

     —Joshua Barone, The New York Times