Steven Isserlis is as brilliant an educator as he is a cellist. It will therefore come as no surprise that his new book exhibits that same sense of irreverent humour and ear for a good yarn which makes his children’s books (Why Beethoven Threw the Stew and its follow-up Why Handel Waggled his Wig) so much fun for kids and adults alike.

Steven Isserlis

But The Bach Cellos Suites: A Companion is not Why Bach Limped to Lubeck by another name. Rather, it’s a delightful, personal and far-from-fusty mixture of biography, musicology and analysis written for “music lovers of all shapes and sizes” in order to “amplify, if possible, the enjoyment and understanding of those listening to Bach’s cello suites by offering my own, very personal, observations on the music.”

Appropriately, the book is divided into six sections. No, not one for each of the six suites, but variously treating Bach’s life, how the suites came about, the dance origins of the music (Allemande, Courant, Sarabande, Gigue etc), questions and “rules”, a possible story hidden in...