Description
The project centred on Bach’s cello suites
Despite having travelled a long road hand in hand with Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello, the idea
of recording them would have seemed absurd to me in the not-too-distant past, but it has
gradually become both an obvious choice and an urgent necessity.
During a conversation with Rainer Arndt, whilst we were discussing what form this project might take, I suggested to him that I play some of the suites on the cello and others on the viola, as I had noticed that certain suites lent themselves particularly well to that instrument. Rainer seemed to find this approach somewhat incomplete, and so suggested: ‘Why not a different instrument for each suite?’
This idea, exciting as it was, initially left me somewhat sceptical as to its feasibility. What distinct character could I find in each of the suites? As I had many instruments with very different characteristics at home, I set about this task, which at the time seemed like a mountain to climb, and began to play the first Suite in its original key on a large French bass viol, then on a smaller English one in a different key, and finally on a French treble in yet another key, and so on for each of them… And of course, just when I’d finally settled on a particular combination (not forgetting the crucial bows) in a way that seemed utterly irrevocable, doubt would grip me and I’d start all over again.
But as the marriage between a Suite and an instrument began to take shape, this construction seemed to me
to make more and more sense and filled me with corresponding enthusiasm, to the point of creating the illusion that it had always existed! It seems to me that performing this music with voices other than those that linger in our unconscious allows it to resurface through a sincere spirit, free from cryptomnesic influences, so as to shed new light on these ultimate masterpieces.
Booking recommended: for any enquiries, please contact us at: [email protected]
Organised by the Arts en Ploz association
