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43 albums · 1936–2022

The cello, from Bach's suites and the concerto to jazz, folk and the studio

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

A cello standing upright against a grey background, its varnish a deep orange-brown, its endpin at the foot
Mstislav Rostropovich in glasses and a waistcoat playing the cello on the stage, orchestra players around himYo-Yo Ma seated alone on a dark stage in blue light, playing the cello into two microphones
A cello made by François-Louis Pique in France around 1800, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Mstislav Rostropovich rehearsing in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, March 1977. Photo: Rob Bogaerts for Anefo, Nationaal Archief, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach's suites for cello alone at the Monumento a la Revolución, Mexico City, March 2019. Photo: Martin Herrera, Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The cello is the bass of the violin family, played seated, the instrument between the knees on its endpin, its four strings tuned C, G, D and A and bowed or plucked. Its range lies close to the human voice, from a deep, full low string to a singing upper register. It took its form in northern Italy in the sixteenth century.

Pablo Casals recorded Bach's six suites for cello alone in the 1930s, and Anner Bylsma and Yo-Yo Ma are two of the many who recorded them after him. Mstislav Rostropovich and Jacqueline du Pré are heard here in the concertos of Dvořák, Shostakovich and Elgar. Fred Katz, Abdul Wadud and Tomeka Reid play it in jazz, Natalie Haas in Scottish fiddle music and Saskia Rao-de Haas in Hindustani ragas, and Arthur Russell, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Apocalyptica took it into song, ambient music and metal.

The list has 43 records from 1936 to 2022; Casals's suites are dated by the first year of their recordings. Records where a cello plays in the string section or behind a singer are left out. About 43 hours of music, 4 days of a few records each.

What it sounds like

The Prelude of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G majorJohn Michel, cello

Recording: John Michel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

By genre

Classical 25%Folk & Country 5%Jazz 5%Other 65%
  • Classical 25%
  • Folk & Country 5%
  • Jazz 5%
  • Other 65%

The genres named most: cello, classical, crossover, jazz, baroque, modern classical.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 17 countries: United States 13, United Kingdom 7, France 3, Netherlands 3, Russia 3 and 12 more. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1930s

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Instruments first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

29 albums · 1976–2024

The kora of Mali, the harp-lute of the jeli

· 1 min read

The kora is the harp-lute of the jeli, the griots of Mali, Guinea, Senegal and the Gambia: 21 strings over a large calabash covered in cowhide, played with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands.

World 89%Blues 3%Classical 3%Other 5%
  • World 89%
  • Blues 3%
  • Classical 3%
  • Other 5%

Read and see the list