Good Music Speaks. The Road More Traveled. Bach Cello Suites A music blog written by Rich Brown

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A music blog written by Rich Brown
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NINA KOTOVA
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
The Road More Traveled
The great poet Robert Frost suggested that choosing the road less traveled can make all the difference. For some, that is just not an
option. Take the life of a professional cello soloist. There just isn’t the same large body of repertoire for the cello that there is for, say, a
violin or piano. As a cellist, one cannot help but plow fields that have been well tilled by many great players of the past (and present, for
that matter). A cellist cannot help but take a road more traveled.

2. Some of my favorite pieces of music for the cello are the Six suites for unaccompanied cello
by Johann Sebastian Bach. Pablo Casals was the first to record the complete set of six suites, and every cellist of any renown has
followed his example. Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Tortelier, and any other name you can mention has offered up a
performance. One of the interesting things about these pieces is that we do not have the original manuscript to refer to, like a violinist
has for the Bach Solo Partitas. All we have are copies made in the hand of other individuals, including Anna Magdalena Bach, Johann’s
second wife. These copies do not all agree on articulations and slurs, leaving us without a prime “urtext” manuscript of Bach’s
directions. There is no single agreed upon version of the articulations, which leaves each great cellist room to make some of their own
choices.
Each of the six suites are divided into six movements, and are almost identical in the structure of those parts. The first movement of
each is a Prelude, with parts 2-4 and 6 being an Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue in each suite. The only variation is in the
fifth movements of each suite, where Bach has given us a Minuet, Borreee or Gavotte in this place. After the opening prelude, these are
all Baroque dance forms, i.e. specific rhythmic formulas used in dances from Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Spain. Now, I am not
the person to look to for help in learning any of these dances, sober or otherwise. For our purpose, it is enough to know that Bach had to
work within the prescribed pattern of each dance he was composing. What wonderful music he produced.
My newest and currently favorite recording of the Six Suites is by the Russian-American
cellist, Nina Kotova. This was released just a short time ago, in September, and has really grown on me since I started listening to it. On
the surface, it is very well recorded from a sound engineering perspective. It is a real treat, because Kotova plays on a 1673 du Pré
Stradivarius cello that makes some of the most gorgeous sound ever heard by human ears. A Stradivarius-made instrument is one of
those rare things in life that lives up to all the hype, especially in an expert’s hands. In this recording, as with everything else I have
heard by Ms. Kotova, she shows why she is more than worthy of playing this instrument.

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