Search - Matt Haimovitz, J. S. Bach :: Bach: 6 Suites for Cello Solo / Matt Haimovitz

A Fine Pizz of Work

Brian Forst | Reston, VA United States | 02/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Matt Haimovitz's recording of the Bach cello suites is not for the traditionalist. Mr. Haimovitz scales the sacred Everest of the cello repertoire blazing an unfamiliar but distinctive trail to the mountaintop. His interpretation is filled with surprise from end to end. He never plays the repeat passages the same way twice, varying tempos and applying vibrato creatively yet thoughtfully, in way that grabs your attention and then neither lets it wander off nor affronts it. Haimovitz's reading of the Bach suites may not have the transcendent quality of Yo-Yo Ma's 1997 recording on Sony, or aristocratic beauty of Pierre Fournier's 1961 recording on Polydor, or the technical wizardry of Pieter Wispelwey's 1998 baroque version on Channel Classics, but it's in a class alone for its willingness to take radical departures from the conventional boundaries of interpretation of this great work, including a pizzicato rendering of the repeat of the second minuet in Suite #2. None of the several dozens of editions of the Bach suites authorizes such an extreme break from convention for the right-hand, but since no scoring of the suites can be found in Bach's pen anyway, Haimovitz gets a pass based on artistic merit alone. He pulls it all off warmly, getting deep inside the music, and not compromising by trying to squeeze it all into the standard 2-disk format. The 65 minutes he gives to the last two suites is longer than any other version I've heard, a deeply introspective account of #5 and unusually deliberative reading of #6.It's not uncommon these days to be confronted by in-your-face stylings of the great classics of string music, typically from string soloists who delight in breaking, smart-alecky, from custom. Mr. Haimovitz has managed in this beautifully recorded interpretation to find a fresh approach to a revered body of music that remains faithful to good taste."

Period performance need not apply

Daniel Graser | Wappingers Falls, New York United States | 07/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The idea that the Bach cello suites should only be played on a baroque cello because this was the sound that Bach "supposedly" heard and was inspired by is not only ludicrous it is also a blind and ignorant opinion which has no basis in music history. Are you seriously telling me that the only way to hear Bach's early keyboard works is on a baroque harpsichord or organ, Mozart's horn concerti on a natural horn, Bach's orchestral works with baroque cornets and hunting horns? Have you ever actually listened to these instruments? Perhaps they contain some interest to antiquers looking for hisorical importance but certainly not to musicians looking for beautiful sounds and precise tuning. We have made advances in instrumental design in fields of material choices, tuning considerations, and accoustical manipulation and you are seriously telling me that none of these efforts are valid to the performance of music that came before them? Year after year we are subjected to recordings with horrible balance, disgusting tone, shoddy intonation and limited musicality, qualities which are supposed to be ignored, since the performance is on period instruments, an "authentic" reproduction. If we do not allow our modern efforts to aid in our instrumental design, and therefore bring new possibilities of beauty and precision to performances of new and old music then where are we to go from here? Are professional instrumentalists to own 12 different instruments to suit the nationality, time period and genre of the music they perform? There is a definite difference between preferring the sound of a baroque cello and characterizing more modern cellos as bastardizations of this design when performing music that came before them. Matt Haimovitz performs these suites with fantastic phrasing, intense emotional concentration, precise tuning and with some more modern performance liberties. To ignore these qualities because you are supposedly offended by the lack of "authenticity" of the instrument used means you are not a musician, rather, you are a bastardization of a musician. This is a fantastic recording that will become an important recording in the recorded legacy of these pieces."

Haimovitz Attacks

Fred Allen | San Jose, CA United States | 04/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cellists seem to treat Bach's suites for solo cello with a depth of reverence that can render them rather bland. They figuratively kneel down and bow. They merely touch the hem of the garment. Haimovitz's approach is to attack the music in a much more practical way that seems to challenge Bach and this music to prove they are worthy of the pedestal they've been placed on. Where others I've heard stand back and gaze in awe and wonder, Haimovitz walks up to the icon, wraps it in a bear hug, pulls it down off the pedestal, tumbles to the floor and wrestles with it. The effect is wondrous. You'll pay attention to this rendition."