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Poll

Who Wins? Or who do you like better? Vote and explain your thoughts.

Rostropovich
- 16 (76.2%)
Yo Yo Ma
- 5 (23.8%)

Total Members Voted: 17


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Author Topic: Battle of the Musicians: Who Wins with Bach Cello Suites (No. 1 Prelude)  (Read 5233 times)

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zerodeefex

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Re: Battle of the Musicians: Who Wins with Bach Cello Suites (No. 1 Prelude)
« Reply #20 on: January 16, 2014, 01:25:21 AM »

Rostropovich of the two although he doesn't take as many liberties as I'd like.

Not my absolute favorite, but of the more bold interpretations out there, I love Queyras:



That particular set is also wonderfully recorded
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Sound Liaison

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Of those 2 I prefer Yo Yo Ma.

But my favorites would be Pieter Wispelwey or Anner Bylsma

 Anner Bylsma (very slow!. 1th movementhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL95vwU92qo
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chetlanin

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Rostropovitch may be a greater musical personality, but it is still a matter of temperament if one likes his way of interpreting this music. ( I voted for the more easy-going Yo Yo).

The suites in general:
Steven Isserlis for exquisite phrasing. Through this he makes the well known music sound fresh without resorting to peculiarities. Shows a degree  of musical intelligence which is rare.

Ophelie Gaillard for performing in a convincing baroqe style (without the HIP-ish exaggerations  of her teacher Bylsma). By her the music sounds playful, dansant, energic, spontaneous in the right degree, and without traces of romanticism etc.

(In comparison  Rostropovich to me sounds out of style and rather boring/predictable, despite the greatness in terms of surefooted perfectionism, emotional engagement and a certain grandeur.. ).

Harnoncourts old recording of the suites: A good compromise: Good phrasing, convincing style. A tad on the dry side though, as I remember it. (H is better known as a conductor nowadays, of course)

Talking of sound, a sad fact is the overuse of (mainly) artificial  reverberation in most modern solo cello recordings on CD I have heard. The sound engineers seem to think that they must help the poor single instrument along ( to sound more like a string orchestra or smth).
 It is almost a shocking experience to stumble over a honest-sounding cello recording, say, like the true mono (=not just mixed down mono) of Starker on Saga LP. Suddenly you feel that you have a cellist playing in your living room!  Much better than his famous Mercyry Living Presence recording, which in addition has far to much treble in it.

The use of too extreme close-up recordings is another annoyance, I find. One does not come closer to the music by putting ones head into the  body of the instrument. (same thing with  pornography if you ask me),  The sound quality in the Paolo Beschi recording, say, is impeccable, but it puts you in the cellist's place,rather than in a comfortable seat at an ideal distance. Cheers, Olaf.
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funkmeister

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There's always something a tad off with Nikolaus Harnoncourt's stuff. A lot of people like him for his supposed period accuracy. My son (6 yrs) likes his Mozart EKNM but I don't.

EDIT: I should probably answer the original question. On paper, I like Rostropovich but my mood right now vastly prefers Yo Yo Ma. But taking third options, Maisky walks all over the others and then eats their lunch, too. He also looks like the business.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2014, 04:03:11 AM by funkmeister »
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s1

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Both are equally good depending on ones mood ,but I voted Rostropovich only because the Yo-yo Ma clip wasn't the best.
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complin

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Zuill Bailey would be my first choice as he combines the dynamism of Rostropovitch and the lyricism of Yoyo Ma
His interpretation is fresh whilst respecting Bachs' original composition and i'm sure he would have been thrilled by the end result

<a href="../../external.html?link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=oDUsab-uQlI" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=oDUsab-uQlI</a>

http://www.allmusic.com/album/bach-cello-suites-mw0001961939
« Last Edit: March 25, 2014, 10:46:43 PM by complin »
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Marvey

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Well you know that I did purposely choose two of very different styles and avoided anyone in the middle...
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complin

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No its not an in the middle (of the road\0 interpretation but one I think you will find unique.

Normally cellists either play Bach very romantically or over emphasise the dynamics and it becomes a dream queen. ::)
For me this interpretation by Bailey hits the sweet spot  in terms of what Bach probably intended when you compare it to many of his other works
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Maxvla

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No its not an in the middle (of the road\0 interpretation but one I think you will find unique.

Normally cellists either play Bach very romantically or over emphasise the dynamics and it becomes a dream queen. ::)
For me this interpretation by Bailey hits the sweet spot  in terms of what Bach probably intended when you compare it to many of his other works

Really? I find the romantic interpretation to be on the rarer side. Most play it like on a metronome, or close, and with nearly no emotion. There are many that are like Ma and you can't even recognize the song due to their interference. I don't consider that romantic, rather trash. There's a clear difference between Ma and Maisky. While not being true Bach style, I find Maisky to be a reasonable modern interpretation. Bailey is not as bad as Ma, but he does these unexplainable note elongations at random that totally destroy the flow of the music. It's really odd.
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Marvey

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There are many that are like Ma and you can't even recognize the song due to their interference. I don't consider that romantic, rather trash. There's a clear difference between Ma and Maisky. While not being true Bach style, I find Maisky to be a reasonable modern interpretation.

LOL on the "trash". I kind of agree. I do like Mischa's quite a bit. There needs to be some element of heavy metal with Bach. Or maybe it goes the other way around.
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