Jim
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(8/1/01 2:52:05 pm)
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Re: Anner Bylsma
Bach Cello Suites CD Recordings
Greetings, Terry. I haven't heard these versions myself, but here
are some interesting (and lengthy) comments from Gramophone
Magazine:
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It is now some 13 years since the
Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma made his first complete recording of
Bach's six Suites for unaccompanied cello. These were for me, and
probably for many readers, revelatory performances, as significant a
landmark, though for different reasons, as those of Casals were in
the mid to late 1930s. In his earlier set Bylsma played an Italian
cello by Matteo Goffriller dating from 1699, in the new one, tuned
only fractionally lower than today's concert pitch, the instrument
is a Stradivarius of the same period, but with an important
difference of its being very slightly longer than the standard
modern cello. An informative note accompanying the discs provides a
full account of the instrument which is preserved in the Smithsonian
Institute of Washington D. C.
In the period between the first
and second recordings, Bylsma's concept of these works has not
undergone any fundamental change. The differences between them is
rather one of degree for as Bylsma himself says in a charming and
spontaneously penned note, pensees in fact, "one keeps finding new
relationships between the notes and every motif can be played in so
many different ways—and always with meaning, too". Seldom, if ever
have I felt so uncertain about how I should guide the reader as in
this instance, especially if he has Bylsma's earlier RCA version
already in his possession. Many of those features in Bylsma's
interpretation which I admired so much in the first set, above all
the rhythmic freedom afforded the Preludes, are further intensified
in the new one. Many tempos remain much the same though Allemandes
are, in all but one instance (Suite No. 3) slower and Courantes in
all but a single case (Suite No. 6) brisker. In other words Bylsma
now makes more striking contrasts between these juxtaposed
movements. But it is in the Preludes that he is most
thought-provoking, for it is in these more freely expressive pieces
that a player can allow himself greater spontaneity. Bylsma, as I
have often remarked before, is not afraid to get his feet wet,
so-to-speak, when confronted by supreme challenges such as those
meeting the interpreter of these profoundly expressive movements.
What we have here are 'performances' as opposed to studio-correct
readings, that is to say that readers concerned with niceties of
intonation may sometimes be mildly disconcerted by what they hear.
But from a purely interpretative viewpoint the new set is bolder,
more relaxed and more broadly expressive. Indeed, at times, as in
the chromatic journey leading to the glorious high G climax of the
Prelude of the First Suite we may ponder deeply over issues
concerning expression. For if Pierre Fournier (DG), for example, who
incidentally adopted an almost identical pulse in this movement, had
allowed himself the expressive licence demonstrated by Bylsma he
would most probably have been roundly condemned for excessive
romanticism. I am not denying my own enjoyment of Bylsma's new
recording—there is much here, after all, that is illuminating,
thought-provoking and stimulating—but we have now clearly reached a
stage in baroque performing practice where convenient
generalizations and all too simplistic comparisons are less
acceptable than ever. In conclusion, I commend this new release
above all for the many fertile ideas contained in the stylistic
gauntlet with which Bylsma challenges the listener, often quite
audaciously. Here is an artist who is not afraid to express himself
both individually and intensely and who understands, indeed seems to
feel, the graceful contours of these superlative pieces with acute
sensibility. High priests and priestesses of received orthodoxy
should stay with the earlier recording, but open-minded readers of a
passionate, warm-blooded disposition are likely to prefer this new
release. An important and mainly enjoyable issue.
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