Search - Johann Sebastian Bach :: Bach: Cello Suites

This is Still the Favorite of Many Bach Lovers...

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 09/25/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"... as one can quickly discover by looking at the reviews of this bargain re-release as well as other, older editions. Wondering why, I dug out my old Archive LPs of Pierre Fournier to listen to him once again after being recently "blown away' by the performances of the same six suites by Jean-Guihen Queyras and Ophelie Gaillard. I was eager to hear what people had heard in Fournier's performance that set it apart from performances by other 20th C cellists.



Okay... My Swedish grandmother had a massive oak dining table with claw feet, which could seat twelve full-sized Swedish uncles and great-uncles comfortably. I used to crawl under that table as a boy. It was the Platonic ideal for me of everything sturdy and imperturbable. Fournier's interpretation of Bach is like that: resonant, robust, grand, and muscular. His tone never sags. His tuning is as dependable as the return of wild geese in the spring. His bowing is reassuringly confident. His interpretation is thoughtfully grave throughout. But...



... his tempi are unbearably slow, especially in the double bourees and courants. His phrasing is stiff, arbitrary, and bluffly unaware of the polyrhythmic layers of 'counting', with the effect that he seems to play all the notes but none of the note-groupings. It's like listening to dance music but having no idea of the steps. I have a nagging sense of 'not knowing where we are' in the unfolding of these sublimated dance structures, of hearing the notes but not the 'composition' of them.



... his affect is solemn and resigned throughout, like the musical thoughts of a man focused on sorrow. Bach had other moods as a man, and I think he had other moods in mind for this music: humor, light-heartedness, graciousness, exuberance. I think old Bach would have considered Fournier a very dull companion.



But that's just one listener's frankly subjective opinion, friends. You needn't heap scornful comments on me, or unhelpful votes, if you disagree. "Each bird finds its own nest beautiful," as my Swedish grandmother would have said if she'd been Italian: A ogni uccello suo nido é bello."

Buy It For The Bursts Of Joy.

BigCityChicken | Citizen Of The World | 03/21/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Casals version is supreme in many ways but my ears have always drifted toward this effort by Fournier. Each listen brings a fresh nuance, a pleasant passage, a figment of X-factor that Casals' version doesn't. Fournier's emotional impact, sound and musical instincts sends chills down my spine, whereas Casals just seems too perfect. Can't lose with purchasing both versions.



I think Casals version would appeal to the stiff, astute, schooled, forceful, and clinical proto-types. Straight line thinking. Casals neurons fire like laser beams, accurate and timely. If you enjoy a fine drink, a good meal, little bursts of joy, spontaneity, staring into the clouds, then Fournier is your man. His neurons fire like a 4th of July Celebration, exploding here and there with pleasant surprises.



Extra added bonus- this version offers a superb sound mix of a Stradivarius cello up close. You can hear Fournier digging in and extracting fine sound.





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