★ 巴哈，巴洛克音樂的集大成者，他的無伴奏大提琴組曲被譽為世界上最美麗的聲音
★ 瘋子、教授、大字典作者Simon Winchester：「這是我這幾年來看過寫得最棒、最聰明、最美妙與研究功夫做得完美無暇的ㄧ本書。」
★ 經濟學人：「Mr. Siblin 的這本著作研究扎實，但最讓人印象深刻的是他精采的寫作手法。」
★ 亞馬遜近五顆星最高評價、英美各大主流媒體一致讚揚
★ 看完本書，讀者將從流行樂投身「古典樂」的擁抱 J
The ironies of artistic genius and public taste are subtly explored in this winding, entertaining tale of a musical masterpiece. Music critic Siblin parallels short, fluent biographies of composer Johann Sebastian Bach, whose six suites for solo cello were long disparaged as minor student exercises, and cello virtuoso Pablo Casals, whose landmark recording of the pieces catapulted them into the classical canon. Their lives are a study in contrasts: Bach is an obscure workaday musician who feels wasted being merely the cantor of a Lutheran boarding school; Casals, a musical superstar and anti-Fascist exile, is a romantic hero. Siblin intertwines his own story of trying to engage with the suites. He takes cello lessons, savors a rich variety of performances, including one on the marimbas, and embarks on a search for Bach’s long-lost manuscript to discover clues to the enigmatic score. (Scholars aren’t even certain the suites were written for cello.) Siblin is an insightful writer with an ability to convey the sound and emotional impact of music in words. (Jan.) ---From Publishers Weekly
“The Cello Suites is a work of ever-percolating interest. Mr. Siblin winds up mixing high and low musical forms, art and political histories, Bach’s and Casals’s individual stories and matters of arcane musicology into a single inquisitive volume.”---紐約時報Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Vividly chronicles [Siblin’s] international search for the original, and unfound, Bach score…Mr. Siblin’s book is well researched, and filled with enough anecdotes to engage even the classical-music aficionado…but the book is best distinguished by its writing. To vivify music in words is not easy. But Mr. Siblin…rises to the task…Read The Cello Suites—preferably with their melodious hum in the background—and you will never look at a cello in quite the same way again.”---經濟學人The Economist
“This is rich terrain, and Siblin’s book is an engrossing combination of musical and political history spiced with generally vivid descriptions of the cello suites themselves…[Siblin] has given us a compelling portrait of a passionate, prickly Bach, of Casals, a musician who was also politically engaged, and an engrossing cast of secondary characters. Best of all, The Cello Suites makes us want to pop in a CD and really listen to those cello suites. Awesome.”---芝加哥週報Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times
“Engaging and imaginative…a charming narrative.”---Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times 西雅圖時報
“The author has done a wealth of research in pursuit of his new passion, and he writes engagingly…this intrepid writer has worked hard to interest readers in his musical obsession, and there is a great deal to chew on here.”---Priscilla S. Taylor, The Washington Times 華盛頓時報
“Siblin firmly believes ‘Bach is what you make of him’—and his book represents just that…No matter what the great composer means to readers, they will surely enjoy Siblin’s fun, fast-paced journey from pop-music scribbler to Bach aficionado.”---Christian Science Monitor基督科學箴言報
“The ironies of artistic genius and public taste are subtly explored in this winding, entertaining tale of a musical masterpiece…Siblin is an insightful writer with an ability to convey the sound and emotional impact of music in words.”---Publishers Weekly出版人週刊
版權已售:
USA – Grove; UK – Harvill Secker; Australia – Allen & Unwin; Germany – Irisiana (Random House); Holland – De Bezige Bij; Spain – 451 Ediciones