When Casals first introduced, to a sceptical public, Bach’s complete Solo Cello Suites (until then considered a purely academic exercise on Bach’s part), no one could possibly have imagined that a time would come not only when more than two dozen recordings were available but when five would be issued in as many months. This latest is the audio component of a six-part film series made over the last four years (in Japan, Rome, Canada and three different locations in Massachusetts) that is to be shown on a number of TV stations and available on home video. Yo-Yo Ma explored each of the suites with artists from other disciplines – from a garden designer and a choreographer to a Kabuki actor and a famous ice-skating pair – who have, according to him, transformed his understanding of the relevant suite and led him to offer interpretations differing from those in his recording of just over a dozen years ago. Without a sight of the images conjured up by his collaborators, each of whom contributes a short note in the booklet (which, however, contains not a single word about the music and gives no timings at all), the results can be judged only by purely musical and stylistic criteria.
Reviewing the 1984 set, NA praised Ma’s seriousness of purpose and his tone and articulation, had slight reservations about purity of intonation, respected his objective approach with its “absence of effusions of romantic sentiment” but felt that this was perhaps carried too far, resulting in some lack of personality and in over-severe Preludes in particular (though how he could say this about those in Suites Nos. 4 and 5 I don’t understand). There are certainly differences in the new set, apart from the lower pitch now adopted. Ma now often favours a lighter bow-stroke (as in the G major Prelude, the D minor Courante and the Gigue, deliciously so in the C major Bourrees and D major Courante and, beneficially, the triplets in the second C minor Gavotte), and employing more staccato (G major and E flat Courantes and E flat Bourree, the second of which is now better in tune). And in general he takes things rather more leisurely: this enables him to avoid the slight sense of hurry noticeable in the earlier C major Courante but seriously endangers the momentum of several of the Sarabandes, which, though obviously deeply felt, are highly romanticized, that in C major really sentimental. NA could no longer think the first three Preludes lacking in freedom or fantasy. Allemandes too tend to be viewed differently – in the Second Suite more tonally angular, in the third meditative instead of buoyant, as before; but the ornate D major Allemande has nobility, and that in C minor, like the rest of that Suite, more tragic in atmosphere (even the Courante and Gigue darker and more brooding). The Menuets move still further from dance character into stylization, the second in each case being treated in a hushed undertone that sounds somewhat contrived. The chords of the first D major Gavotte are more spread and less tidy than in Ma’s earlier recording. Gigues, except for that in D minor, are sturdier and more determined-sounding than before.
How much these interpretations were influenced by the screen images is hard to know. Ma’s standing as one of today’s leading cellists remains unassailable: it is up to you whether you prefer your Bach romantic or more objective. Either way, Sony have nothing to lose!
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