Yo-Yo Ma Plays - Prelude, Bach's Cello Suite No. 1

The Toronto Music Garden is inspired by J.S. Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello. In this video clip, Yo-Yo Ma - who was involved in the garden project - plays the Prelude. (The Prelude is also featured in the trailer for The Soloist, a film starring Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers and Robert Downey, Jr., as Steve Lopez.)

Playing the work on the 18th-century Davidov Stradivarius cello, Yo-Yo Ma's interpretation is slower than that of Mstislav Rostropovich (who played the Duport Stradivarius cello).

The Toronto Music Garden's web site provides further information on how Bach's work inspired the garden:

The Toronto Music Garden is a unique creation, inspired by J.S. Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello. Each of the garden's six sections corresponds to a movement of Bach's Suite: Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Menuett and Gigue. Various tours are available to explore the two-acre site which contains many flowering trees, shrubs and perennials. Free 45-minute walking tour led by the Toronto Botanical Garden volunteer guides, or 70-minute self-guided audio tours hosted by Yo-Yo Ma and Garden Designer Julie Moir Messervy.