Pablo Casals discovered the Bach cello suites for modern players

The argument

Today, musicians regard Bach's six cello suites as the most popular in the world. They didn't always have this prestigious reputation though. Pablo Casals spent years practicing the pieces, which at the time were viewed as technical warmup exercises. Eventually, he became the first musician to perform them in public. When asked about the importance of the pieces, the cellist Lluís Claret said, "It's like our bible." After Casals recorded his interpretation of the pieces in 1936, the pieces were regarded as works of art necessary for any cellist to be seriously considered a master of the instrument. Casals changed the entire culture of the cello and is thus the greatest cellist of all time.

Premises

Counter-arguments

While Casals did have a significant impact on the cello community, this impact alone is not enough for him to be considered the greatest cellist of all time. He merely laid the foundations for the greatest cellists of all time by popularizing the Bach suites.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The suites were published and in circulation long before Casals, so "discovered" is doing metaphorical work; the premise supports the claim that he changed how they were regarded, which is a fact about reception rather than about playing. [Rejecting P2] Changing an instrument's culture is an achievement of advocacy and repertoire, and the counter's objection stands: laying the foundation on which later players built is entirely compatible with some of them surpassing him, which is what "greatest cellist" is usually taken to compare.