2 disc(s) - 36 track(s)
Total length: 02:18:34
Today, we regard the cello as a powerful solo voice. In Bach’s time, however, it was primarily a low-pitched string instrument, whose range scarcely extended beyond that of the tenor, and which naturally found its place in the basso continuo, where it could support the more prominent voices. The question we must naturally ask ourselves in light of this is how, between 1717 and 1723, the modest cello came to distinguish itself so remarkably that it became the recipient of six magnificent suites for solo cello.
The answer lies in the historical context. Despite its generous expressiveness, the viola da gamba was no longer able to compensate for its lack of sonority in the larger halls that had by then become increasingly fashionable. Around 1700, it was in need of a successor with a more powerful voice, and in this respect, the cello emerged as the obvious candidate. Yet there was no immediate replacement. The conditions gradually matured for the cello’s remarkable rise. Hope inspired the desire to work; work led to new levels of technical accomplishment; and these new heights of technique brought forth a number of truly outstanding cellists. One of them was Christian Bernhard Linike.
For Bach, Linike must have been something of a professional phenomenon: an instrumentalist capable of treating a continuo instrument with exceptional virtuosity. In the solo cello suites, we see the master gradually giving this ability an ever greater field of expression. Indeed, it was almost certainly through Linike’s performance of each suite, as it appeared, that Bach was encouraged to bring the virtuosic dimension even further to the fore in the next.
Bach left us a body of works in which the cello is both the upper voice and the basso continuo. When we consider the suites as a whole, we can clearly trace an evolution from simplicity towards greater virtuosity and deeper musical expression. In light of the historical context we have outlined, this progression can mean only one thing: Bach’s growing desire to explore the limits of Linike’s abilities — and, by implication, those of the cello itself.
If Pierre Fournier has often been described as the “aristocrat of cellists,” the expression seems equally fitting for Maurice Gendron and this elegant, profound interpretation of the suites. The recording itself contributes to an atmosphere imbued with nobility.
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