Johann Sebastian Bach - Cello Suites (Heinrich Schiff)

Information

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

CD1:

1. (01-06) Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
2. (07-12) Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008
3. (13-18) Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009

CD2:

1. (01-06) Cello Suite No. 4 in E flat major, BWV 1010
2. (07-12) Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
3. (13-18) Cello Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012

Heinrich Schiff, cello
Date: 1984
Label: EMI

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

Bach’s cello suites abound in superlative recordings, from Casals’ still potent pioneering set (Naxos) to riveting cycles from Boris Pergamenschikov (Hänssler) and Torleif Thedéen (BIS) released on the cusp of the millennium. In between are classic versions by Pierre Fournier (DG), Paul Tortelier (EMI), Mstislav Rostropovich (EMI), Andre Navarra (Calliope), Anner Bylsma (his Sony remake), Ralph Kirshbaum (Virgin), and multiple Janos Starker editions. I keep these in my library as an oenophile cultivates a choice collection of fine wines. When I want to break out the vintage port, figuratively speaking, I reach for Heinrich Schiff’s arrestingly individual, musically profound, and sonically sumptuous 1985 EMI traversals.

You notice his sound first. It’s a rich tone through and through: not always pretty, granted, but incredibly focused, be it in the Sixth Suite’s stratospheric tessitura or in bass lines that alternately jab and sustain. While some cellists like to linger over the Preludes, Schiff instead gets down to business, sculpting the harmonic groupings in the manner of a keyboard player. Schiff’s rhythmic vitality and pinpointed accents bring all the dance movements to joyful life. The melodies always bend, curve, and surge over the bar line, avoiding predictable patterns of accentuation. With all that, the listener never loses the beat or, more accurately, the pulse of life. Ornaments are present, but don’t draw attention to themselves.

Originally issued at full-price and quickly deleted, EMI resurrects this unjustly buried treasure for its Double Forte series. It’s like getting a bottle of Dom Perignon for the price of Sangria. Even if you already have one or two Bach Cello Suite cycles in your larder, this one is special. Really special.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More review:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Feb01/Bach_CelloSuites_Schiff.htm
http://www.allmusic.com/album/bach-cello-suites-mw0001379567
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-Suites-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B00004Z34I

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Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from Italy and France. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach

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Heinrich Schiff (born 18 November 1951 – 23 December 2016) is an Austrian cellist and conductor. He studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra, and conducting with Hans Swarovsky. As a conductor, he was Artistic Director of the Northern Sinfonia (1990-96), the Copenhagen Philharmonic (1996-2000), and the Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur (1996-2001). As a soloist, his recordings won several prizes. Schiff plays the "Mara" Stradivarius (1711) and "Sleeping Beauty" (1739) made by Montagnana in Venice. Among his students are Rudi Spring, Gautier Capuçon, Richard Harwood and Natalie Clein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schiff

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