The personal story of the cello played braced against the shoulder (violoncello da spalla) began when Sergey Malov first listened to a vinyl recording of...

The personal story of the cello played braced against the shoulder (violoncello da spalla) began when Sergey Malov first listened to a vinyl recording of Bach’s cello suites played by the legendary Pablo Casals from his father’s collection. Later on, when listening to the recordings he could not get rid of the feeling that this light and dancing music does not fit that well with such a heavy big instrument as a cello. Although perhaps he just wanted to play these amazing pieces himself. Malov was dreaming about playing them authentically. He had no idea though what that authentic way was or how he could place such a huge bass instrument on his shoulder. One cold winter day in 2009 he accidentally found a video recording of Allemanda from the 2nd Bach Cello Suite played by Dmitry Badiarov - a violin maker, co-author of the violoncello da spalla revival project and an inspiring violinist himself. Suddenly his boldest dreams and phantasies came true in a most detailed way.