|
Back
08/01/2024
“Six Cello Suites: The 2023 Sessions”
Johann Sebastian Bach: Suites n° 1 in G major, BWV 1007, n° 2 in D minor, BWV 1008, n° 3 in C major, BWV 1009, n° 4 in E‑Flat major, BWV 1010, n° 5 in C minor, BWV 1011, & n° 6 in D major, BWV 1012
Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (choreographer)*
Recording: Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente, Haarlem, Netherlands (October 2023) – 134’57
harmonia mundi HMM902388.90 (* includes bonus Blu-ray disc, “Mitten wir im Leben sind”) (Distributed by [Integral]) – Booklet in French, English and German
 
Listening to Bach’s suites for solo cello as a whole program presents a difficulty shared by many Baroque suites, which we approach today with ears accustomed to later multi-movement works, which aim for a more deeply integrated dramatic unity, where the movements form a considered tableau. This is less an issue in the works for unaccompanied violin Bach labeled sonata, each of which is in four movements, one of them fugal, and so approximates what we could anachronistically call symphonic rigor. But there are no “sonatas” among the cello suites, and if each suite is to engage as a whole, the performer must find a way to make the largely monophonic cello sustain interest throughout the six dance movements (mostly) of each suite.
Jean-Guihen Queyras’ approach to the music is not so much to elevate it as to emphasize its balletic roots—perhaps because these recordings seem to have originated in filmed performances with dancers. The interpretations are balletic inasmuch as they stress liveliness of rhythm, though not generally with strong accents. I am not familiar with his earlier recording mentioned in the notes, but here Queyras’ tone production is impressively even, and he does not seem to be going for a vocal kind of phrasing most of the time. I would prefer a more vocal sense myself, especially if combined with more vigorous accents to create a declamatory effect and greater variety of expression. Pablo Casals’ pioneering recordings of this music are so special musically because of the natural and gripping way they combine dramatic thrust with a lyrical sense, avoiding both vulgarity and overrefinement and expanding the scope of the music; he throws himself into the music in a way it’s hard for me to imagine anyone doing today. By contrast, in two of my touchstone movements, the “Bourrées” of BWV 1009 and 1010, Queyras is somehow at once too jaunty and too polite. However, his light touch is just right in the concluding “Gigues”—not coincidentally, perhaps the most indelibly balletic movements.
In short, I prefer an interpretive approach that does more to lift this music above its dance origin, however proximate that origin really is, but Queyras is consistently musical, technically assured and expressively engaged. Those who follow this performer or collect recordings of the Bach cello suites (which I don’t) will find things to enjoy, even if it’s not likely to displace anyone’s favorites.
Samuel Wigutow
|
