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Bach - Cello Suites, Paolo Pandolfo (viola da gamba)

A fresh light cast on Bach’s suites through Pandolfo’s revelatory transcriptions for viola da gamba – superbly performed‚ too

Tucked away in Glossa’s typically elegant packaging for this release is an imaginary dialogue‚ written by Paolo Pandolfo‚ in which a cello and a viola da gamba dispute the latter’s left to play Bach’s solo cello suites. The gamba’s point (and of course Pandolfo’s) is that‚ while on the one hand the suites can be seen as the beginning of one tradition‚ so they are also the end of another. Bach‚ who knew both the old world of the gamba and the new one of the cello‚ is peering into both at once‚ and by adapting the six suites for the gamba‚ Pandolfo contends that he is able to throw light onto that older world‚ to summon the ‘ancient footsteps’ which echo through the solo gamba repertoire and on into Bach’s bright new cello dawn. As he puts it‚ ‘I have let the innumerable suites to which the gamba has lent its voice during the span of its long life resound silently.’ This disc could actually serve as a useful demonstration of the relative strengths and weaknesses of gamba and cello. The gamba’s extra facility in spread chords is an obvious plus‚ and Pandolfo makes good use of it in his adaptations‚ adding a whole host of extra harmonies in the First Suite’s Gigue. Other comparisons‚ however‚ are more complex. The gamba is often the more agile instrument (Pandolfo adds quite a few extra twiddles)‚ but there are also times when it audibly requires more effort. Where the cello’s sound is bold and rounded with plenty of attack‚ the gamba’s is sparer and less assertive‚ so that in a movement such as the Sixth Suite Prelude the cello is a clear winner. Yet‚ though less powerful‚ the gamba has more resonance‚ sometimes leading to cloudier textures but at others offering up a gloriously rich sonority (as in the Gavotte of the Sixth Suite). In the end‚ though‚ it is the musicianship that matters‚ and fortunately Pandolfo’s is of the most eloquent kind. These are above all wonderfully supple readings full of thoughtfulness and imagination‚ but almost as impressive is the way in which he succeeds in casting these familiar pieces into the gamba’s poetic world of intimate self­communion. This is most noticeable in some of those places where cellists are often most outgoing (for instance the upward climb towards the end of the First Suite’s Prelude or the rustic drones in the Third Suite’s Gigue)‚ but where Pandolfo retreats into inward reflectiveness. There are other glimpses of the old regime‚ too‚ for instance in the aristocratic way he turns the complex figuration of the Sixth Suite’s Allemande into fleet‚ quasi­improvisatory flourishes. Yet this is more than a historical experiment‚ and there are moments when Pandolfo’s artistry stands on its own feet and hits you between the eyes: try the spectral Sarabande to the Fifth Suite‚ or the spellbinding pizzicatos of its counterpart from the Fourth. There is also an excellent hurdy­gurdy impression in the Sixth Suite’s second Gavotte. Pandolfo’s fictional dialogue makes much of the fact that he is borrowing these suites from the cello‚ not stealing them. He does so to great effect‚ however‚ and such is his musical personality that one can quickly forget about transcriptions and lose oneself in the sound of Bach played‚ quite beautifully‚ on an instrument which Pandolfo rightly describes as ‘noble‚ proud‚ and at the same time fragile and vulnerable’.

Reviewed: Gramophone 2001/10

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Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123