And stunning “lead violin”… Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending”:
Serious classical people who grew up in the rock era… all cellos (well… almost)… Led Zeppelin:
… and another thing I love about Matt Haimovitz… he plays a bunch of unconventional venues; delis, beer halls, etc. Here just a public performance in lower Manhattan – I love the public reaction. Another irresistible solo cell piece, the prelude from the 6th suite:
And I know you didn’t ask for solo works, necessarily, but I think of them… and the next major classical piece I can think of, for solo cello (after Bach), is Kodaly’s cello sonata. And that means (to me at least), cellist Janos Starker:
And then there’s more pop song arrangements. Rachael Lander. Holy ch**. I don’t even LIKE the originals, but:
and:
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Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas and the Concerto
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and there’s the amazing cellist Rufus Cappadoccia … duo record with guitarist Dave Fiuczyinski:
And for violin AND (violin again and viola and) cello… the pinnacle of the literature comprises the Beethoven string quartets. A thousand recordings … my own preferred is the Kodaly quartet. For example:
Mari Samuelsen. She records Bach to Brian Eno and everything in between. Here, a piece by Johan Johannsson, from the soundtrack to the movie “Arrival” – tune called Heptapod B:
I am a huge admirer of the Estonian composer Aarvo Part; his piece “Fratres” is available as a violin and ensemble recording (Mari Samuelsen did one…) but I just found, new to me, this distractingly attractive cellist, who recorded an arrangement for cello and electronics:
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Not violins only… but I really like Ólafur Arnalds album “living room songs”.
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Did anybody mention Escala? Their EP is amazing.
thanks for all this wag!
You’re welcome… got me digging
through the catalogue, lol. With all my praise of the Queyras recording of the Bach, I got one thing wrong in a couple places… he’s playing “historically informed practice” (to an extent) on a period-set-up-cello I think. So not in contrast to Bylsma. A “modern” recording in terms of sound quality! (A d I’ve perused a few more recommendable renditions of these by now too… but it’s already silly talking about so many renditions if the same music).
I think the preference for cello comes from its frequency being something that resonates in your torso more… As compositions, I think the Bach solo violin music is “better” for example… but the cello music gets inside your ribcage. Just a thought.
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I stumbled onto some stuff…
Eklipse.
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and then there are the Bond Girls.
and of course the known but unmentioned:
The Piano Guys
2 Cellos
Vitamin String Quartet (haven’t listened to them yet…got em cued though)
Hot Tuna sometimes had some burning violin courtesy of Papa John Creach… in a more heavy blues-rock vein, perhaps it’s called “fiddle”:
… And I’m back with more Mari Samuelsen. Kinda fallen in love with this unfairly beautiful violinist over the last few days. A couple of earlier records are very atmospheric… here are two tunes she did from the album Nordic Noir (her older brother, Hakon Samuelsen, on cello on this record too).
And with full-on video:
You mentioned both Bond and Piano Guys in your initial post!
Just FYI - The Vitamin String Quartet is not really a string quartet; that is, it doesn’t have teh same members, necessarily, across recordings. It’s more a “project name”.
There are a thousand and one string quartets though, which could be named… Turtle Island string quartet and Kronos Quartet don’t stick to the classical literature all the time. I have another couple on the tip of my tongue… (and again, a WHOLE lot who DO stick to the traditional/classical repertoire…)
Wow! Thank you for this! Even avaiable as “master” on tidal. And the song Near Light is from my favorite Olafur arnalds.
What a gem, keep them coming 
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