Bach New
Six Solo Cello Suites, BWV1007-12: No. 1 in G; No. 2 in D minor; No. 3 in C; No. 4 in E flat; No. 5 in C minor; No. 6 in D.
Susan Sheppard (cello).
Metronome METCD1034 (full price, two discs, 2 hours 13 minutes). Producer Roy Mowatt. Engineer Leigh Jemison. Dates February 3rd-4th, October 1st-2nd and December 4th-5th, 1998.
Bach New
Six Solo Cello Suites, BWV1007-12: No. 1 in G; No. 2 in D minor; No. 3 in C; No. 4 in E flat; No. 5 in C minor; No. 6 in D.
Mischa Maisky (cello).
DG 463 314-2 (full price, three discs, 2 hours 35 minutes, contains active CD-ROM of scores). Producer Kay Maisky. Engineer Jonathan Stokes. Dates July and August, 1999.
Comparisons:
Casals (EMI) CHS5 66215-2 (two discs)
Casals (Pearl) GEMS0045 (two discs)
Fournier (DG) 449 711-2 (two discs)
Maisky (DG) 415 416-2 (three discs, unavailable)
Tortelier (EMI) CDC7 49035/6-2 (two discs)
Turovsky (Chandos) CHAN9034 (two discs)
Bach's Cello Suites have now been honoured with numerous recordings, following the Old Testament cragginess of Pablo Casals's version. Two new interpretations, from Susan Sheppard and Mischa Maisky, could not be more different. Sheppard, former principal cello of the Academy of Ancient Music and London Classical Players, is a founding principal of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Her performance, on four- and five-stringed modern copies of Baroque cellos, captures the poised grace of the French school, while exuding musical temperament and individuality. Even before books like Meredith Little's and Nathalie Jenne's Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach (Indiana University Press: 1991) convincingly linked the cello suites to French dance forms, Gallic musicians like Pierre Fournier were supreme in these works. With a light yet incisive touch, Sheppard may be said to follow this French tradition of interpretation, less brisk than some other early music versions which can, frankly, seem rushed. Sheppard remains in a celebratory mode. She provides her own intriguing booklet notes, and perhaps the only drawback to this important new recording is that the West German Radio recording seems a tad resonant for the lucid playing.
By contrast, Mischa Maisky's cycle is less of a musical statement than a big-star event. The Russian cellist recorded a previous cycle in 1985, but announces in a sympathetic booklet interview with Tully Potter that he recently found it to be like a 'parody' of his current musical ideas. Maisky prepared his own edition of the score which is presented by DG on an accompanying CD-ROM that offers a 'playback cursor' to aid in following the notes as well as 'articles on the artist, the works, and the composer'. The present performance seems to abide by this order of priority. Rather than focusing on the long musical line, Maisky favours sudden, abrupt accents that inevitably draw attention to the player, like a dancer impressing upon us the difficulty of the turn he has just accomplished. A somewhat galumphing approach makes for impressive sobriety, but can interrupt the all-important musical line. It is unfair to suggest that this is just the typical 'Russian school' of Bach performance. Another Russian cellist who is highly expressive yet respectful of the cycle's musical architecture is the Borodin Trio's Yuli Turovsky.
This new CD conveys the full tone of Maisky's 1720 Domenico Montagnana cello, and captures abrupt dynamic changes with all-too-faithful accuracy. He does seem to have toned down the vibrato from his earlier recording of the solo suites and a 1980s DG disc of the sonatas for cello and continuo, performed with Martha Argerich. But when not adding personal accents here, Maisky makes a meal of the slow movements, to the point of abolishing forward momentum. Dostoevskyian in emotion, his performance sometimes skirts the maudlin before turning to Gogol-like grotesquerie in up-tempo passages. There is nothing wrong with imposing literary imaginings on these works - Paul Tortelier seemed at times to incarnate Don Quixote while playing these suites - but the literature should ideally fit the notes more gracefully than it does here. On the evidence of the ears alone, one must shelve this among the numerous less-than-wholly satisfactory versions of these stupendously difficult works.
Could it be that the combined ghosts of Casals and Bach are just too much for some cellists? All the more reason to celebrate Sheppard's achievement and to temper one's feeling of disappointment at Maisky's effort.
Benjamin Ivry
© International Record Review 2001used by permission
