Six Suites, BWV 1007-1012: Cello, Solo, Unaccompanied, Book

Starkweather's alignment of manuscripts creates a genuinely useful teaching score. By presenting source materials side by side, students can understand editorial decision-making rather than simply accepting one version as definitive. The scordatura suite's pitch labels eliminate a real source of confusion, and the fingerings drawn from Starkweather's own recorded performances offer practical solutions without prescribing a single 'correct' approach.

These suites move through intimate dances and ceremonial movements with a clarity that feels both inevitable and surprising. The writing sits comfortably on the cello while never letting the instrument settle into comfort; each suite challenges you to think across multiple registers and find architecture in passages that might otherwise dissolve into figuration. The music breathes with the formality of a suite but speaks with Bach's characteristic depth.

Serious students working toward advanced repertoire will find this edition invaluable as they transition from following one editor's decisions to making informed choices about Bach's notation. String teachers preparing students for competitions or conservatory auditions benefit from having multiple source perspectives in one volume. Adult returners and advanced amateurs appreciate the scholarly apparatus without the intimidation of a full critical edition.

• Reference the manuscript comparisons when encountering ambiguous slurs or articulations. Your choice matters more than matching an editor's guess.
• In the scordatura suite, use the pitch names as a learning tool during the first month or two, then gradually rely on them less as your hand adjusts to the tuning.
• The bowings provided reflect one cellist's solutions; experiment with subdividing or combining bow strokes to match your own hand size and strength before settling on one approach.
• Pay attention to the rhythm notations that differ across sources. These variations often illuminate Bach's own notation practices and can suggest interpretive nuance.

Cellists benefit from learning a single suite thoroughly for a recital, rather than rushing through all six; the emotional and technical demands of even one suite merit sustained preparation. These works also anchor master classes on baroque performance practice, since the manuscript comparisons invite discussion about notation, ornamentation, and period playing assumptions. For curricula, introduce the first suite around grade 3.5 and allow students to progress through the others based on readiness rather than chronology.

• Reading and interpreting variant manuscript sources
• Navigating position shifts across multiple registers
• Understanding scordatura and retuned string notation
• Making editorial choices about slurs, bowings, and articulation from evidence rather than assumption
• Building harmonic awareness while playing single-line melody
• Sustaining musical narrative through multi-movement structures