Casals, Fournier, Navarra & Rostropovich on Bach's Suites for solo cello

The Performers

All streaming audio examples of Bach's suites on a single page

Comments on such performances are risky, and many of them might appear exaggerated or bold or unsuccessful or unfair; I do not disagree. But what is indisputable is that all four of these musicians have proved their love for this work and this is what defines their interpretations, even when they are drawn and fall into their own traps. They are indeed the spiritual children of the Great Cantor, and as such I would like to sketch them out and, in this way, to further illuminate my comments. 

The first, Pablo Casals, is a real master of his instrument; he has the security of his own talent and is in the tradition of the great musicians of the 19th century. This, combined with his own impetuous nature, allows him to hazard his interpretations because he knows that he can hardly make a mistake. The arrows he shoots from his bow almost always find their target in the heart of a listener; therefore, he remains one of the most sacred figures that have ever passed through the domain of music, although the 'authentic' experts today would consider his performance -unjustly of course- far removed from the spirit of Bach.  

Pierre Fournier, with his aristocratic and modest playing knows what he has to offer us with his art. He doesn't allow himself to be drawn into extreme interpretative resolutions, because he knows that what he offers is good. One could characterize his performance as somehow conservative, but this doesn't detract at all from its value, and it surely stands out from many others.

Andre Navarra is perhaps the most untamed temperament. His character is tense and many times his playing is nervy. He doesn't agree with what he has heard, and he has his own opinion; it is as though he's constantly shouting: "But since it's been written that way, can't you see it? Then, listen to it!" He is the man who for some people sounds stubborn and for others revolutionary.

Finally, the youngest, Mstislav Rostropovich seems the most questionable character in this equally questionable matter. He is the man who is constantly in meditation; he is suggesting that "it might also be so", giving priority to, and regarding as authoritative the composer's inspiration, as he himself once said[1]. His instrument no longer hides any secrets from him; the only enigmas are the music and himself. He proposes solutions in such a modesty, that it frequently seems like weakness.

And old Bach, twisting a curl of his wig, might cast a sly look at Casals, smile at Fournier, frown, with a hidden merriment, at Navarra, and being himself in meditation, he might look at Rostropovich wondering: "Might that be so?"

Performances home address:https://www.ellopos.net/music/performances/

To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervour, to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.

Pablo Casals
(At the Prades Bach Festival, 1950)

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