Your opinion about this new set of Bach cello suites from Mischa Maisky will depend on how much Maisky you prefer with your Bach. Or, to put it another way, how amenable you are to the trend toward increasing assertiveness by performers in pushing the limits of notation and style. Now this can be a good thing, except when it appears to have no musical or artistic purpose, or when it misrepresents the score so severely that we are presented with virtually a different composition. My own judgment here is colored by Maisky’s first recorded traversal of the suites, which has remained one of my two favorite versions (the other being Mari Fujiwara’s on Denon) ever since its issue in 1985. However, these new readings, which apparently were sparked by Maisky’s horror at hearing a selection from the earlier set on a hi-fi store demo recording and thinking it was a “parody” of his own playing, should come with a warning sticker: “Any resemblance to Bach’s original composition is purely accidental.” It seems as if the cellist takes Bach’s score merely as his starting point, from which he launches his own very personal, and transforming, commentary.
Nearly every movement in the new version is faster, often considerably so. Not that timing is everything, but since this is such a consistent feature of these performances, you have to suspect that there’s a conscious decision behind it. My question is, is this a product of new insight or is it just different? It’s definitely different, and right from the first bar of the Prelude to the G major suite you’re plunged headlong into a world of souped-up, hyperventilated sound and fury that mostly ends up cluttering Bach’s wonderfully lean lines and clear textures. Maisky’s new interpretive ideas actually work well in some places, especially in the darker, moodier sections of the D minor suite, where the complex minor-key harmonies emerge with somewhat greater coherence. And there can be no doubt about Maisky’s technique being fully intact and still formidable. The playing is commanding and confident and technically flawless. His cello, too, has one of the sweetest yet most full-bodied timbres you’ll ever hear. Surprisingly, there’s little difference in the sound between this and the 1985 recording. And it’s hard to quarrel with Maisky’s love of and respect for Bach (“If I could say that music is my religion, then these suites are the Bible”), nor would I presume to question this fine musician’s integrity or sincerity.
However, the question of phrasing, perhaps the most important element in any performance of the suites, is another matter. I have serious trouble with many of Maisky’s choices and means of delineation of phrasing and the attendant dynamics. There are countless passages throughout all of the suites where the lines are uncomfortably choppy, overloaded with too much punctuation–like a sentence with too many commas. And, as in the Gigue of the C major suite, the interpretive liberties Maisky takes are sometimes so outlandish that you have to wonder at the sheer audaciousness. I suppose I’m looking for signs of the humility–an important attribute for those who approach and interpret such monumental Bach masterpieces–that Maisky clearly exhibited in his performances and recordings 15 years ago. But this is an attribute that is fast disappearing from many of today’s preeminent soloists–Yo-Yo Ma’s “Inspired by Bach” is just another example.
Maisky likes to suggest that “Bach was the greatest romantic” and takes pride in accusations that he performs his music “romantically”. So be it. But I would argue that Bach was not a romantic in today’s meaning of the term, and modern attempts to interpret his music as if he were, that is, forcing it into some kind of artificial context, rob it of the very qualities that make it timeless. If this is your style, check this out if you must–at least it comes with a very cool CD-ROM interactive score, complete with Maisky’s own fingerings, MIDI compatibility, and a variety of playback features that would be a welcome addition to many classical recordings. Otherwise, go for Maisky’s first recording–or for the sumptuously lyrical Fujiwara or Pieter Wispelwey’s rock-solid, faithful-to-the-score renditions for Channel Classics.
– See more at: http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-4198/#sthash.lkmVxtHD.dpuf

Artykuł BACH <br />6 Cello-Suiten <br />Mischa Maisky pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

Il se détend dans un village proche de Vienne en Autriche, et boucle ce chef-d’œuvre de musique et d’humour en quelques jours.

Il s’agit d’une suite de 14 mouvements de courte durée (quelques dizaines de secondes pour les plus courts, 6 ou 7 minutes pour les rares plus longs), s’inspirant chacun d’un animal et jouant avec virtuosité avec des citations facétieuses.

L’instrumentation est originale : 2 pianos, 2 violons, alto, violoncelle, contrebasse, flûte, clarinette harmonica (célesta) et xylophone. L’orchestration est différente pour chaque mouvement, l’orchestre étant au complet pour le dernier mouvement.

Selon la biographie de Saint-Saëns par Georges Servières en 1923, Le carnaval des animaux a été joué en privé le 9 mars 1886, pour le Mardi gras, chez le violoncelliste Charles Joseph Lebouc (on croirait une blague). Il aurait été redonné en l’honneur de Franz Liszt (ami de Saint-Saëns) le 2 avril suivant chez Pauline Viardot.

Pour une raison ou une autre, Saint-Saëns en interdit toute interprétation publique à l’exception du devenu célèbre « Cygne » (no 13). Ce n’est qu’après la mort du compositeur, en 1921, que ce joyau put être diffusé.

https://www.musicologie.org/sites/c/carnaval_des_animaux.html

Artykuł SAINT-SAENS, MESCHWITZ, RIDOUT <br />Carnaval des Animaux / Ferdinand, Little sad sound / Tier-Gebete <br />Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

Solche Bearbeitungen ungenannter Bearbeiter zum eigenen Gebrauch sind schon für Johann Sebastian Bach die selbstverständlichste Sache der Welt gewesen. Bei den Bearbeitungen von fremder Hand muß man halt darauf achten, daß diese Arrangements mit gutem Geschmack gemacht wurden, meint Mischa Maisky, und dafür legt er bei dieser Auswahl: Mischa Maisky, Pavel Gililov MEDITATION  – die Hand ins Feuer.

Rostropovich of the Future

Born in 1948 in Riga, Latvia, Mischa Maisky received his first music lessons there at the Children’s Music School and Conservatory. In 1962 he entered the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1965 his debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic earned him the nickname “Rostropovich of the Future”. One year later he was a prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and began his studies with Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory while pursuing a concert career throughout the former Soviet Union. After being imprisoned in a labour camp near Gorky for 18 months in 1970, he emigrated from the USSR.

Maisky and extraordinary musicians

„In great demand as a chamber player, Maisky has performed with a number of extraordinary musicians, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gidon Kremer, Peter Serkin, and Martha Argerich. Acclaimed for his renditions of concertos by Haydn and Schumann, Maisky is the only cellist to have received a Deutsche Grammophon offer to record Bach’s complete works for the cello. The year 2000 was dedicated to Bach by Maisky, when he performed all of Bach’s cello works in three recitals in a single day, and presented 100 Bach performances around the world.“ – All Music Guide

• 6. Frederic Chopin: Prelude
• 7. Franz Schubert: Ave Maria
• 8. Robert Schumann: Traumerei
• 9. Johannes Brahms: Wiegenlied
• 10. Manuel de Falla: Nana
• 11. Gabriel Faure: Apres un reve
• 12. Jules Massenet: Elegie
• 13. Camille Saint-Saens: Le Cygne
• 14. Maurice Ravel: Habanera
• 15. Anonym: Katalanisches Volkslied (Gesang der Vögel)
• 16. Peter Tschaikowsky: Nocturne
• 17. Sergei Rachmaninow: Vocalise
• 18. Fritz Kreisler: Liebesleid

Sein Meister.

BOCCHERINI VIVALDI TARTINI Cello Concertos Mstislav Rostropovich

Artykuł Mischa Maisky, Pavel Gililov MEDITATION pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.