Rating: 4/5
Review:
Beautiful sound and some unusual interpretations
There is much to love in Mischa Maisky's reading of the
Cello Suites, but I do have my reservations, too.
The Cello Suites contain some of Bach's very finest music,
in my view, and I think they distil the very essence of Bach's genius into a
magnificent series of sublime movements.
Maisky plainly "gets" this – he invests the works with real
passion and gives us a very powerful, emotional reading of the Suites. Sometimes this works very well – the whole of
the First Suite sounds just wonderful to me, for example, with a lovely,
heartfelt approach. In other movements I
wasn't so keen: those fabulous wide arpeggios in the Prelude of the Third Suite
didn't have the emotional power I expect, for example, and the slow, rather
plodding tempo of the famous Bourée from the Third Suite just sounded wrong to
me. Also, the astonishing Sarabande of
the Fifth Suite is played with such explicit expression (and so much vibrato)
that, perhaps perversely, it lost much of its usual power to move me. Sometimes, if you'll forgive the cliché, less
is more.
Whatever I may think about the interpretations, the sheer
beauty of sound from Maisky's cello is simply mesmerising. It's probably the loveliest sound I know in
any recording of these works (and I have quite a lot), and it's superbly
recorded.
My reservations about this recording are very personal, and
you may well respond differently.
Personally, I'd go for Isserlis, Fournier or the recent brilliant
recording by David Watkin before this, but that's the point of different
recordings. I wouldn't reject this by
any means. There are parts of this set
which I return to again and again (especially the First Suite) and many people
love it, so my advice is to give it a try of you can and see what you think –
it may suit you very well.
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