Cello Concertos in A minor, B flat major & A major

Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Feb 98)

"Refreshing and enlivening performances...if you are a cellist, youshould buy it straightaway to find out what you have been missing! The recording is splendid"
- Rosette (highest rating) Penguin Stereo Guide

"Why is it that cellists who bemoan their lack of concerto repertory continue to neglect CPE Bach's three essays in the genre? It's a mystery; they're excellent pieces, full of infectious nervous energy in their outer movements and tender lyricism in central ones. They aren't unknown to the recording catalogues, however, not least because they also exist in alternative versions which the composer made for flute and harpsichord.
Though there are times when the low-lying cello has difficulty making itself heard against the orchestra, Suzuki makes light of the matter with performances whose agility, lightness and textural clarity make those of Bylsma and the largersounding Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment sound heavy-handed. But while Suzuki - thanks to a generally thinner sound - is the more successful in the way he transmits the surface excitement and energy of the quick movements, he can't match Bylsma's vocal inspiration in the eloquent poetry of the slow movement. Suzuki's, nevertheless, are refreshing, enlivening performances of attractive and substantial music." Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010