Eleonor Bindman

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Eleonor Bindman recording the Cello Suites

The Cello Suites Project, Part 1: The Inspiration

Published 03/02/20
           

Earlier this week – on February 24th and 25th – I recorded my piano transcription of the Bach Cello Suites, to be released in the fall on the Naxos/Grand Piano label. It is the first faithful version of the complete 6 Suites for the piano to be found in recordings or published music. One wonders, with the immense popularity of these works and plenty of arrangements for violin and viola plus selections for bass clarinet, ukulele, trumpet, marimba, guitar and bass recorder among others, why haven’t pianists been able to enjoy this wonderful music yet? Had the value of playing something so gratifying yet so simple on the keyboard, of studying a score so perfectly crafted and yet so easily understood not occurred to anyone?

The Cello Suites project grew out of my Stepping Stones to Bach arrangements which were motivated by the desire to help more amateur pianists play Bach successfully. After sitting next to private students week after week while they struggled with 2-part Inventions, it occurred to me that what seems like easy Bach to me must be quite difficult for them. Bach’s keyboard pieces, even the easier ones, usually involve counterpoint (two voices of equal importance moving concurrently), and coordinating the intricate voices is a very specific and challenging blend of mental and kinetic functions. Bach intended them for pupils like his sons who had “natural” ability and were undaunted by counterpoint. After all, very few people learned to play the keyboard in Bach’s times unless they were to become musicians (or belonged to royal or very prominent families and owned an instrument.) My students don’t have Bach’s genes and are just learning to play for leisure, so I decided to simplify some of Bach’s greatest masterpieces for their enjoyment. Transcribing Cello Suite movements for the Stepping Stones books was a no-brainer and after playing them myself I realized that the music felt idiomatically very suited to the piano and the experience was wonderfully gratifying.

Siloti and Liszt
Siloti and Liszt

Alexander Siloti (1863-1945), an illustrious Russian pianist (and a first cousin of Rachmaninov), understood the value of the Cello Suites as potentially educational piano material a century ago. From 1883 to 1886 he was one of the favorite students of a certain superstar in Weimar…you guessed it, Franz Liszt. Inspired by the magnificent transcriptions and paraphrases of Liszt, Siloti eventually produced a collection of roughly 200 piano arrangements himself, a good percentage of which derived from Bach. As most virtuosos, he had very large hands and those transcriptions are technically ambitious – see this version of the Prelude from Cello Suite # 4 where each note is reproduced in double octaves. Yet the sublime and simple arrangement of Bach’s Prelude in B Minor from Clavier Büchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is the one that stood the test of time (download it here). Here is a historic video of Emil Gilels playing it as an encore:

Siloti and Bach

Finding Alexander Siloti’s “Four Studies after the Cello Suites of J.S. Bach” was the final “stamp of approval” I needed to put this project in motion. He chose the famous Prelude and the Courante from Suite #1 in G major, plus the Prelude and Bourrées from #3 in C Major and transformed them in the same way that I envisioned for the complete suites. The set was published by “Musica Obscura Editions” in 1914 under the heading “Transcriptions for the Young.” Siloti makes no changes or additions to the original score, except for amplifying the last few notes of the Preludes by adding a couple of octaves – you can’t take the Liszt out of a disciple…

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Quite simply (and irrespective of the particular novelty factor here) this is Bach playing of the highest order. … Listening to Bindman’s recording, I was immediately struck by the mellifluous beauty and sensitivity of her renditions of these iconic cello works; that she has transcribed them so well and plays them with such assurance, grace and finesse makes this 2CD set an easy choice for my Recording of the Month.

Andrew Eales
Pianodao

“Prepare to be surprised when you listen to the new 2-CD release of Eleonor Bindman playing her piano arrangements of Bach’s Cello Suites. Ms. Bindman’s arrangements faithfully include the notes you will find in the original Bach, but have become works that are new, unique, and completely satisfying on their own terms.”

Barry Lenson
Classical Archive

“Her skillfully wrought arrangements… [treat] the solo cello lines straight, and… you get Bach’s text served up with sensitivity and taste… Bindman’s well-considered tempos address the music’s dance origins. …her Preludes and Sarabandes sing out well”

Jed Distler
ClassicsToday

The Six Solo Cello Suites are some of the most celebrated and much-loved works in the classical repertoire, and they continue to fascinate and inspire performers and audiences alike. In this brand new transcription for solo piano, Eleonor Bindman pays tribute to this music’s enduring allure. … The transcription offers scope for some adventurous interpretation, particularly in the wonderfully playful pairs of Minuets, Bourrées and Gavottes. … Like the works included in her ‘Stepping Stones to Bach’, Eleonor has provided pianists with yet more repertoire to explore, and her elegantly, meticulous transcriptions shine a new light on this wonderful music while also remaining true to the original.

Frances Wilson
The Cross-Eyed Pianist

Given her experience in both playing and transcribing Bach, these [Stepping Stones to Bach] arrangements are excellent, retaining a clear sense of the original while offering early to intermediate pianists the opportunity to play interesting and imaginative stand-alone pieces.”

Frances Wilson
A Piano Teacher Writes
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