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Nathaniel Rosen US $30.00 |
 To listen to a sample track on this CD, go to "What's On It". You will need to have the RealAudio plug-in installed on your computer and a 28.8 or better modem . Go to our Technical Information page for more details on how to do this or if you are having any problems with playing any of the tracks. "In his youth, and until the approach of old age [my father] played the violin very cleanly and penetratingly, and thus kept the orchestra in better order than he could have done with the harpsichord. He understood to perfection the possibilities of all stringed instruments. This is evidenced by his solos for the violin and the violoncello without bass." J.S. Bach understood to perfection not only the "possibilities" of all stringed instruments. He also profoundly understood the individual technical and musical character of each stringed instrument, as well as its limitations. (J.S. Bach’s father was a string player. It is probable that the violin was young Johann’s first instrument.) Nowhere is Bach’s holistic understanding of a stringed instrument more evident than in his six works for violoncello solo. Bach writes completely in harmony with the natural pitch, tone quality, and pace of the violoncello. Bach’s technical understanding was applied in the service of a musical inspiration that brought forth works of endless fascination, challenge, beauty, and spiritual renewal. With the sparest of musical materials, Bach set out not only to suggest a separately-moving bass line, but also to provide a palpable harmony, all without overshadowing the importance of the melody. That the listener instinctively never feels the lack of a keyboard or continuo in this music is proof that Bach succeeded. The cello Suites have always been recognized as works of singular grandeur and endless quiet beauty. It is safe to conclude that as long as there are cellos, and cellists to play them, that judgment is not likely to change in the least. Playing a Bach Suite on the cello is like breathing: one shouldn’t do it to impress an audience. However, if a performance develops organically and with natural rhythm, the audience will respond with rapt spiritual attention. The meditative aspect of playing these great unaccompanied works, so easy to feel in the privacy of one’s own practice room, requires concentration, confidence, and courage to achieve in the concert hall.
Disc 1: Track 1: Ste No.1 in G, BWV 1007: I. Prld Track 2: Ste No.1 in G, BWV 1007: II. Allemande Track 3: Ste No.1 in G, BWV 1007: III. Courante Track 4: Ste No.1 in G, BWV 1007: IV. Sarabande Track 5: Ste No.1 in G, BWV 1007: V. Menuet I, II Disc 2: Track 1: Ste No.4 in E-Flat, BWV 1010: I. Prld Track 2: Ste No.4 in E-Flat, BWV 1010: II. Allemande Track 3: Ste No.4 in E-Flat, BWV 1010: III. Courante Track 4: Ste No.4 in E-Flat, BWV 1010: IV. Sarabande Track 5: Ste No.4 in E-Flat, BWV 1010: V. Bourree I, II
Mr. Rosen’s interpretations are daring and free-spirited, an approach that is evident nearly from the start. …there is something persuasive about the broad strokes in which he paints. Rosen conquers them with performances of dark-toned, probing intensity without neglecting to convey the dance inspiration of the quicker movements. The rhetorical grandeur of both the pioneering 1930s interpretations by Casals and the recent edition by Rostropovich are brought to mind, but without the revered Spaniard’s Romantic indulgences, or the Russian’s often sluggish tempos. [Rosen’s] Bach solo cello suites combine elegance of articulation with an imaginative flair that blows the scholarly dust off these pieces. …they unfold beautifully and lyrically, impelled by a technique that is at once virtuosic and un-selfconscious. …I have not heard a more natural cello sound on CD, and it is rather rare on LP as well. In particular, the microphone positioning here sounds well-nigh perfect — there is a marvelous balance between instrument and room. I don’t know if any of this sonic quality can be attributed to the use of true 20-bit recording, but I’d love to hear the master tapes…. Rosen’s playing is not note-perfect but impressive in its energy and a certain intensity that draws one into the perform-ances in something of the way Casals does. But no one makes this music more riveting than Rosen, and in certain pieces — the tragic Second and the monumental Fourth, for example — he sets a standard for the cellists who will follow him. Nathaniel Rosen’s recording of the six Bach cello suites are the kind of deeply considered readings we’d expect of a mature artist, but there’s no lack of the technical sparkle and shameless electricity that helped Rosen win the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition. Would I buy this? Yes. Rosen’s Bach can seem almost diffident at first, until the listener finds himself absorbed in the pure argument of the music… . Even in a market crowded with performances of the Bach cello suites, I can certainly recommend this production highly. …there’s no doubt that these are interpretations from a first-rate cellist and musical thinker. Rosen's view of the Bach moves from a highly charged atmosphere at the opening Preludes to a cold sobriety in the slow move-ments. Yet one is never in doubt that he feels passionately about these works, and even when you do not agree with his view of the music, there is commitment to his interpretation that is far preferable to the boring neutrality to which these Suites are so often subjected. … Those tired of ephemeral Bach interpretations would be well advised to hear these discs … .
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