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Track(s) taken from CDA67541/2

Cello Suite No 3 in C major, BWV1009

composer
? early 1720s

Steven Isserlis (cello)
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Recording details: December 2005
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: May 2007
Total duration: 19 minutes 43 seconds

Cover artwork: Photograph of Steven Isserlis by Graham Topping.
 

Other recordings available for download

David Kenedy (cello)
Alban Gerhardt (cello)

Reviews

‘Thoughtful, respectful, inspirational playing, a perfectly-placed recording, stimulating notes … this is a fine achievement’ (BBC Radio 3 CD Review)

‘Some of the best Bach playing I've heard since Casals’ (BBC Radio 3 CD Review)

‘This is the most wonderful cello-playing, surely among the most consistently beautiful to have been heard in this demanding music, as well as the most musically alert and vivid … few will fail to be charmed by Isserlis's sweetly singing tone, his perfectly voiced chords and superb control of articulation and dynamic—the way the final chord of the First Prelude dies away is spellbinding. There are so many other delights: the subtle comings and goings of the Third Prelude, the nobly poised Fifth Allemande, the swaggering climax into the Sixth Gigue—I cannot mention them all. Suffice to say that Isserlis's Bach is a major entrant into an already highly distinguished field, and a disc many will want to return to again and again’ (Gramophone)

‘His judicious ornaments sensitively decorate—never distort—Bach’s lines … rhythmically he’s impeccable. The free ‘phantasticus’ style of the first four Preludes is gloriously fluent, capturing the harmonic flow implied within the single cello line. The fifth, a French Overture, is free of bombast and its subsequent quasi-fugue lyrical and unhurried. Isserlis plays the sixth suite, intended for a five-string instrument, on a normal four-string cello, negotiating the stratospheric range with astonishing ease … his sense of style is matched by an outstandingly secure technique. He has no need for those impassioned tenutos behind which others hide the terrors of multiple-stopping … recording quality is excellent—two-channel stereo is all that’s required, and it’s excellently balanced between immediacy and spaciousness. Casals (re-issued on Naxos) started it all in 1936—Beamish’s Catalan folk-song arrangement is a charming tribute to him. Ter Linden (Harmonia Mundi) provides a fine period-instrument account, and Hugh (Kevin Mayhew) a somewhat reverberant but perceptive ‘modern’ option. But for me, Isserlis and Hyperion provide a completely new and inspiring benchmark for this unique tour de force’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘This landmark recording combines bravura technique with scholartly research to produce a new interpretation … pushing each rhythmic possiblity to the limit but never sacrificing grace, charm and elegance’ (The Observer)

‘These are the cellist's Everest, and Isserlis has waited a long time to commit them to disc: his superb interpretations now put him in that great line of cellists that stretches back to Casals’ (The Independent)

‘Isserlis's dance-movements, particularly the jaunty Gigues, have a verve that is often missing from the 'classic' performances, and his Sarabandes, most of all the sublime 'Crucifixion' of No 5, are serene moments of repose and reflection in these thought-provoking and magnificently played accounts of these corner-stone works’ (International Record Review)

‘Isserlis is a passionate musician, but never thoughtless or frivolous, and the delicacy of his responses on this wonderful set sometimes take the breath away. If your soul fails to quiver in the quiet depths of the fifth suite’s sarabande, then you must be a robot in disguise. Yet he’s not on his knees always worshipping: time and again Isserlis asserts the music’s dance roots, whether through his thrusting accents or by sweeping through with a winning lilt … just listen to Isserlis, Bach and your heart, and the music that never dies’ (The Times)

‘A worthy successor to Casals in every way. He creates the satisfying sense of a musical journey through the Suites … Isserlis's interpretation treads the path between profound intellectual understanding and a sense of spontaeous expression, both qualities that the music requires … this is an outstanding recording of some of the greatest works of classical music and a disc that every music-lover should own’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘His vibrato-light tone is soft-grained but seems infinitely malleable. He can dance with the grace of perfect strength and physique, and sing plaintively, or from the heart, or in celebration, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him. In short, he's brought off that most remarkable of feats: making Bach's six great cello suites sound as if they might well have been written for him. This is unmissable music-making’ (The Irish Times)

‘These performances grab you with their intimacy and full-bodied embrace, their simple dedication and emotional truthfulness—an elusive juxtaposition of opposites that Isserlis captures better than most. You never sense he is playing for mood or effect—dynamic and expressive contrasts are modest—but he brings wonderful vigour and connectedness to the dance-like figurations. The sound makes you feel Isserlis is sitting four yards away, not just enjoying himself but also completely bound up in the technical and quasi-improvisatory challenges of Bach's world’ (Financial Times)

‘In a radically organic approach, Steven Isserlis takes the works back to their meditative core … the inner voice is on the whole wondrously refreshing, laced with flashes of wit and dazzling insight. I am still finding surprises on third hearing’ (The Evening Standard)

‘The Bach Cello Suites are the Everest to be conquered by every cellist, and the latest assault has been made by Steven Isserlis, with triumphant success … with this cellist's ability to catch exactly the rhythmic movements and contrast them with the steady beauty of the slow passages, this is a specially fine account’ (Liverpool Daily Post)

‘A beautiful, absorbing, must-have set of performances, with some delightful little add-ons, notably Sally Beamish's exquisite arrangement of a Catalan folk song, included by Isserlis as a homage to Pablo Casals. This will be a record of the year’ (The Herald)

‘This is the finest recording of Bach's cello suites that I've heard. The playing is enthralling, the production superb; nearly every detail sounds just right. Steven Isserlis has bided his time to record these suites and he comes to them with technique and sensibility finely honed, all of it evident in his richly dark tone, fluent phrasing, lithe dance rhythms and lovingly crafted lyricism … one of the year's outstanding recordings’ (Goldberg)

‘Staying true to the Baroque ideal of free instrumental expression, he stamps his own unconventional wisdom on these almost three-centuries-old standards. No two interpreters will ever agree on the Allemande in Suite No 2 … Isserlis, for his part, cuts loose with a rollicking, stylized jig that puts to bed the prior brooding Prelude. He teases out the individual personalities in each of the dances and trumpets them, molding each suite into a fuller, organic whole. Isserlis impeccably controls his slow movements, and his focused, restrained use of vibrato is perfectly in character’ (Time Out Chicago)

‘Steven Isserlis achieves the ideal synthesis between the old-fashioned approach to Bach's solo pieces and newer, supposedly more authentic notions. Listening to Mr. Isserlis, you may find yourself enjoying these six works more than you ever have before. His rhythmic élan is downright infectious, and he finds the heart of the music without getting maudlin. A clear first choice for these much-recorded suites’ (The Dallas Morning News)

‘These are … meticulously prepared accounts of a highly personal and reverent nature. Listeners will immediately warm to Isserlis’s genial way with the First Suite and the solemn majesty applied to the Third. And while Isserlis may have the sub-text, the suites work with or without that in mind. Steven Isserlis knows the detailed history of these suites, both in performance and in composition, and applies his years of research and familiarity without omission to disc. The project has clearly been a labour of love and comes across that way—a set of recordings made from compulsion, not duty’ (Classical Source)

‘It has taken him years to face up to the monumental challenge that is the Bach Cello Suites, but Steven Isserlis comes up trumps in a deeply intelligent traversal with a tremendous emotional pay-off’ (FirstPost.com)

‘Isserlis has done the impossible. He has given the listener something new, and indeed something outstandingly good … this recording can sit proudly on the shelf alongside the great recordings of Casals and Rostropovich. In fact, I may find myself picking it up as the favourite’ (bbc.co.uk)
A pedal point once again dominates this prelude, though generating a rather different effect from the serene steadiness of the first suite. Halfway through the movement, tension begins to build as Bach instructs his performer to sound an extended bass pedal point. This recurrent dominant note (G) longs for resolution to the tonic (C), but each successive iteration denies us the expected release and instead increases the friction by introducing more dissonant elaborations. The legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich once reported experiencing actual physical pain in executing this passage: like a live butterfly being pinned to a board, spinning helplessly. The incessant motion of the bow hopping between strings, meanwhile, again creates a powerful illusion of separate parts sounding simultaneously. The movement ends with a rhetorical gesture of ‘abruption’: a sequence of chords that suddenly halts the perpetual semiquaver motion, eventually granting the listener the long-desired harmonic resolution. Later on, in the sarabande, harmonic motion temporarily goes off the rails in a different way, turning inthe second half to the distant key of D minor. Compositionally, such a move required a significant level of contrivance, exploiting the harmonic ambiguity of the single melodic line. Yet in performance, the effect is once more one of extemporized fortuity, of a semi-improvisatory journey that may land us in all sorts of unexpected, interesting, far-away places. The two halves of the closing gigue, meanwhile, contain what are perhaps the most glaring dissonant clashes across the set. Here, Bach turns the screw just that little bit more tightly on his listeners before the piece’s painful pleasures fall away with the final cadence.

from notes by Bettina Varwig © 2019

Encore une fois, le prélude est dominé par une pédale, mais elle produit un effet assez différent du calme serein de la première suite. Au milieu de ce mouvement, la tension commence à monter lorsque Bach demande à son interprète de faire sonner une pédale de basse qui se prolonge. Cette dominante récurrente (sol) aimerait se résoudre à la tonique (do), mais chaque répétition successive nous prive du soulagement attendu et augmente, à la place, la friction en introduisant davantage d’élaborations dissonantes. Le légendaire violoncelliste Mstislav Rostropovitch mentionna un jour avoir éprouvé une réelle douleur physique en exécutant ce passage: comme un papillon vivant épinglé sur une planche, tournant sans pouvoir rien faire. Pendant ce temps, le mouvement incessant de l’archet sautant entre les cordes crée à nouveau une puissante illusion de parties séparées sonnant simultanément. Le mouvement s’achève avec un geste rhétorique de «décollement»: une succession d’accords qui interrompent soudain le mouvement perpétuel en doubles croches et accorde finalement à l’auditeur la résolution harmonique tant désirée. Plus tard, dans la sarabande, le mouvement harmonique déraille provisoirement d’une manière différente, passant dans la seconde moitié à la tonalité éloignée de ré mineur. Sur le plan de la composition, un tel geste requiert un certain degré d’ingéniosité, exploitant l’ambiguïté harmonique de la seule ligne mélodique. Pourtant à l’exécution, il produit encore l’effet d’un hasard improvisé ou d’un voyage semi-improvisé qui peut nous faire atterrir dans toute sorte de contrées lointaines inattendues et intéressantes. Quant aux deux moitiés de la gigue finale, on y trouve ce qui sont peut-être les conflits dissonants les plus flagrants de ce recueil. Ici, Bach augmente juste un peu plus la pression sur ses auditeurs avant que les plaisirs douloureux de cette pièce s’effacent avec la cadence finale.

extrait des notes rédigées par Bettina Varwig © 2019
Français: Marie-Stella Pâris

Auch dieses Prélude wird von einem Orgelpunkt dominiert, obwohl sich hier nicht, wie in der ersten Suite, eine gelassene Beständigkeit einstellt. In der Satzmitte beginnt die Spannung zu steigen, wenn Bach seinen Interpreten anweist, einen ausgedehnten Orgelpunkt im Bass zu spielen. Dieser wiederkehrende dominante Ton (G) sehnt sich nach Auflösung zur Tonika (C), doch mit jeder Wiederholung wird uns die erwartete Entspannung versagt undstattdessen intensivieren sich die Reibungen, indem noch mehr dissonante Ausschmückungen erklingen. Der legendäre Cellist Mstislaw Rostropowitsch berichtete einmal, dass er beim Spielen dieser Passage tatsächlichen physischen Schmerz verspürt habe—wie ein Schmetterling, der an ein Brett geheftet sei und hilflos mit den Flügeln schlage. Unterdessen sorgt die unablässige Bewegung des Bogens, der zwischen den Saiten hin und her hüpft, wiederum sehr überzeugend für den Eindruck, dass verschiedene Stimmen gleichzeitig erklingen. Der Satz endet mit der rhetorischen Geste des Abbruchs: eine Akkordfolge, die der unablässigen Sechzehntelbewegung plötzlich Einhalt gebietet und dem Zuhörer schließlich die langersehnte harmonische Auflösung gewährt. Später, in der Sarabande, entgleist das harmonische Fortschreiten in anderer Weise und wendet sich in der zweiten Hälfte der entfernten Tonart d-Moll zu. In kompositorischer Hinsicht war hier beträchtliche Erfindungsgabe vonnöten, um die harmonische Mehrdeutigkeit einer einzelnen melodischen Linie voll auszuschöpfen. In der Aufführungssituation wirkt es jedoch eher wie ein durch Improvisation entstandener Zufall, eine aus dem Stehgreif gelenkte Reise, auf der wir an allerlei unerwarteten, interessanten und weit entfernten Orten landen können. Die beiden Hälften der Gigue enthalten zum Abschluss hingegen die vielleicht eklatantesten dissonanten Kollisionen des gesamten Zyklus. Hier zieht Bach die Schraube noch ein bisschen fester an, bevor die schmerzhaften Freuden des Stücks mit der Schlusskadenz wegfallen.

aus dem Begleittext von Bettina Varwig © 2019
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Bach: Cello Suites
SIGCD0912CDs Download only
Bach: The Cello Suites
Studio Master: CDA68261/22CDsStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
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