Paul Tortelier Plays Bach: Complete Cello Suites
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Paul TortelierDVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
DVD Release Date: 2008-10-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Video Artists Int'l
Movie Reviews of Paul Tortelier Plays Bach: Complete Cello Suites
Movie Review: Undiminished to the Very End
Summary: 5 Stars
Now I have found the cello suite that I was seeking for a very long time. Recordings of cello music are beset by two problems: non-resonant studio acoustic, and over-close multiple miking. In the real world, the long sound waves released by the cello's long strings need a resonant space, and the Abbey Church of St Michel de Cuxa in Prades is ideal for the purpose. That is why Pablo Casals chose it for his festival, and why he did a film of Bach's First Suite here in 1954 (released once upon a time on laserdisc in Japan only), and that is why Paul Tortelier returned at the end of his life, perhaps even shortening his life, to do it there. Even Casals did not make live recordings of this cycle, however, as neither have Rostropovich or Maisky or Yo Yo Ma or Starker. Tortelier amazingly plays the pieces from memory before a living, breathing and occasionally coughing audience. The audience seems to vitalize him, and he sails over the occasional mishap undauntedly. An individual note may slide out of or into alignment, but overall the intonation is excellent, and the ease of bowing stands in contrast to the plodding evident in so many other recordings.
The disc has so much resonance that I was surprised to read on the jacket that it is mono, recorded with the use of a single microphone a fair distance from the solo instrument. I can now put my finger on what has bothered me about the other recordings of these pieces that I have heard--too many microphones, positioned too closely to the cello's soundboard, in dry acoustic spaces, the effect of which is artificially to darken the tone of the instrument. There were some wonderful monophonic recordings back in the days before stereo, and here we see that such things are still possible in our time. The sound engineer should get an award.
Summary of Paul Tortelier Plays Bach: Complete Cello Suites
Tortelier Bach's six Suites for Cello are at the pinnacle of works for that instrument. Cellists who tackle them successfully must have outstanding technical ability, rhythmic acuity, and the insight to convey the depth and drama inherent in the music. The French cellist Paul Tortelier is one who fully mastered these works. This DVD is a record of his 1990 performance at the Pablo Casals Festival of Prades. His son, the conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, writes in the program notes that the event marked the cellist's fortieth anniversary of his connection with the Festival, and that he regarded the Bach Suites as his "musical bible." Though 76 years old and warned by doctors that he needed surgery for his failing heart, he insisted on playing at the festival. Perhaps it was Tortelier's health issues that account for the power of these performances. That back-story adds to the extra-musical interest in this DVD, as does the sad fact that Tortelier died a few months later. It's likely a factor in the rare technical lapses that pop up here and there over the course of two-and-a-half hours of playing such difficult works with unbridled intensity. Each of the six Suites has the same structure: a Prelude followed by five dance-based movements, some slow, some fast, but all requiring a player in tune with Bach's musical world. He doesn't overly Romanticize the music, nor does he stress Bach's abstract patterns over their expressive content. His decisive Preludes signal the dramas about to unfold. He infuses the Sarabandes with emotional power hinting at their profound depths. Elsewhere, as in the Allemandes and the closing Gigues, the spirit of the dance is embodied in Tortelier's rhythmic exactitude and lively playing. Visually, this DVD is a treat in its concentration on the cellist. Producer-director Peter Ammann refuses to let his cameras wander around the atmospheric, stone 10th-century Benedictine abbey that was the site of the concert or to the audience, which, aside from applause, is barely registered here. We get closeups of Tortelier's weathered countenance, his hands, especially the left hand where his dancing fingers bring the music to life, and often long stretches of the cellist seen playing in full frontal views, his passion and concentration matching the music's demands. The austere, but crisp and film-making is a perfect counterpart to Tortelier's playing of Bach's exalted music. --Dan DavisPaul Tortelier: Testament to Bach: The Complete Cello Suites is an all-regions DVD in color and in monophonic sound. Video ratio is 4:3.
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