Rating: 5/5
Review:
Excellent interpretations
I wasn't at all sure that I would like Anne Gastinel's
interpretations of the Cello Suites having read some reviews, but I tried them
anyway and I'm very glad I did because I like them very much. They are slightly eccentric in places but
superbly played and very rewarding, I think.
The first thing to say is that Anne Gastinel is a very fine
cellist indeed. These are extremely
challenging works which demand genuine virtuosity in places, but Gastinel's
technique is so good that she seems to move through them with no sense of
strain and her playing sounds utterly natural.
There is a delightful sense of flow throughout as she is seemingly
immersed in and carried along by the music itself – and it's a lovely
ride. The sound of her cello is simply
fabulous (and beautifully recorded by Naïve) and I often find myself captivated
by these performances.
Gastinel's tempi are generally quite brisk and she brings
some occasional rhythmic eccentricity to her phrasing which in some recordings
I have found intrusive and rather irritating, but here it just seems to work. It sounds absolutely sincere and genuine with
no hint of mannered or forced "individuality" being imposed on Bach's
music. For example, she skips with the
quickest and lightest of touches over the wonderful wide arpeggios in the
prelude to the Third Suite, and yet they keep all the moving beauty they have
in, say David Watkin's fabulous and much more emphatic interpretation. In the magnificent Sarabande of the Fifth
Suite, which Steven Isserlis invests with such spellbinding depth and passion,
Gastinel seems to caress the meaning from the music in the tenderest way – and
it's just as powerful.
I was genuinely surprised by how much I like these
interpretations. I have a lot of
recordings of the Cello Suites and I think this stands with the best of
them. These things are often a matter of
personal taste and preference but I would urge you to give this recording a
try. If you find them as enjoyable and
rewarding as I do, it will be well worth it.
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