Anner Bylsma - RIP

[ejp626]

Just saw this obituary.  https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/2776--obituary-anner-bylsma-1934-2019

I never had the pleasure of seeing him perform live (at least not that I recall), though apparently he worked with many of the folks at Tafelmusik, and I do go to their concerts from time to time.

I've owned 3 box sets in the Anner Bylsma collection for some time now (all purchased at Sikora's (also RIP)), and I just broke down and put in an order for the last one - Chamber Music vol 2 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GH1X1CU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A30I8KTV4DUTWQ&psc=1#customerReviews)

It's a pretty sweet deal - 12 CDs for around $20.

Nonetheless, it may be best to start with his Cello Suites set, which actually has two completely different recordings of the Bach solo cello suites.  The actual box set seems to be OOP, but downloads are available and it can be streamed at the usual locations.

 

[T.D.]

RIP.

Wonderful performer. Lots of Bylsma recordings in the Sony Vivarte boxes.

[mikeweil]

Bylsma played on gut strings all his lifeteime (his teacher got him started on them) and said that only once or maybe twice a string snapped, which is what most players not accustomed to them are afraid of. He was a nice man and never made a big deal out of his many schievements. He was such an important pioneer of the period instruments scene, had a sweet tone without overemphasizing the vibrato/non vibrato issue. Any recording he made deserves to be heard.

R.I.P., and many thanks for the music.

I can recommed this documentary:

Edited July 29, 2019 by mikeweil

[mjzee]

RIP.  Between the Seon box and the two Vivarte boxes, I have at least 30 albums with Bylsma.  

[mikeweil]

I'm sure SONY will make those box sets available again now that he left us. Leonhardt, Balsma, the Kuijken brothers, Robert Kohnen - the Dutch/Flemish pioneers. Koopman belongs to the second wave.

[erwbol]

RIP

The first classical CDs I ever bought in the late nineties were by Bylsma. Schubert: Quintet in C major (D956) and Bach: Suites for Violoncello Solo on Sony Classical. I consequently remembered I had seen a short interview/documentary on Dutch tv earlier that decade about Bylsma about to travel to New York to record the Bach suites on the famous Servais instrument from the Smithsonian Collection. It seemed back then it might perhaps be a good place to start listening to classical music, but I later forgot all about it.

[mikeweil]

The Servais cello is a beautiful sounding instrument. Due to fact that these works are judged as inferior by the classical repertoire police the CD didn't get that much attention at the time of its release. Now it's a collector's item. The above is not the original cover. It's included in the SONY box set:

Edited August 17, 2019 by mikeweil

[erwbol]

7 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

The Servais cello is a beautiful sounding instrument. Due to fact that these works are judged as inferior by the classical repertoire police the CD didn't get that much attention at the time of its release. Now it's a collector's item. The above is not the original cover.

I have never heard of that album.

I see this is from 1988 and so predates the Schubert quintet (D956) recording on Sony Classical (1990).

[mikeweil]

I didn't know this also was on LP. It's beautiful music, anyway. The first CD edition had the cover you pictured but was on deutsche harmonia mundi - that label changed distributors several times until it finally landed under SONY's reign.

[erwbol]

Perhaps Sony will release one of those Complete Bylsma box sets in the near future? (Until then there is bittorrent to sample the HM Servais disc as included in the OOP box set you mentioned.)

[mjzee]

Is the Servais on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi box that Sony released?

Is there overlap between the DHM box and the Seon/Vivarte boxes?

[mikeweil]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

Is the Servais on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi box that Sony released?

Yes. As I said, DHM changed distributors several times before being distributed and then acquired by BMG, who had bought RCA before and is the mother company behind the SONY/BMG enterprise. 

Don't know about the contents of these boxes as I had all the original CDs in them that I wanted. I suspect the SEON box includes material from the beginning of his recording career; SEON became part of the BMG universe independently of DHM, but the large companies of course use material of any of the labels they assembled over the years. Can't find a track list of the SEON box right now, but I think it was only SEON recordings and no later stuff.

But these three box sets reissue onyl material from DHM or the Vivarte series and have no overlap: