Bridgewater Hall Concert 15th September 2019
Bach Cello Suites – Alisa Weilerstein
Introduction.
This was the opening concert of the International Season 2019/20 and my first experience of one at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. There was an impressive acoustic with plenty of air and resonance to the sound. The concert itself was only open at Stalls level. Surprisingly, given a world class cellist was in situ, it was only full to about 2/3 apparent capacity.
Maybe this was a reflection of a mid Sunday afternoon start time. Alternatively, an admittedly daring kick off with an extended solo recital.
There was an engaging talk from Stephen Threlfall preceding the performance. He provided some helpful signposting for the Suites. This concert proved to be a performance of the Suites played in numerical order. An interval came after the first 3, and there were short gaps for tuning adjustments between each Suite.
The Music.
Turning to the performance itself, a note on timings is interesting. The concert programme indicated we could expect performances to total about 125 minutes. This might suggest fairly brisk tempos would apply throughout.
In practice the performance ran for about 2 hours 40 minutes! Even allowing for the gaps between the pieces, this is pretty elongated! However, timings alone can give a false picture. Whilst the cellist did savour slower movements there was no lacking of energy in the faster paced dances.
The very first Prelude was a signpost to what was a pretty unique performance. It struck me that a movement easily played straight to provide much pleasure given its ear worm melody, was being approached as a fantasy in itself.
She was to use the hall acoustics to great effect. Witness a dynamic range that was either daring or foolhardy depending on your point of view. My impression was that if a listener arrived with a preconceived idea of what the Suites should sound like then disappointment would ensue. This was going to be Alisa’s own interpretation and a clone of no-one’s.
During the progress of the first three Suites, a number of thoughts crystallised in my mind. Firstly, she was happy to use lashings of rubato throughout to convey her message. Secondly, there was an uncommonly high differentiation of the different dance movements. Special mention of the contrasts in the two elements of each 5th movement. In addition properly frisky Courantes, contemplative Sarabandes, energetic Gigues and so on.
BAch v. Alisa
I did have a niggly thought throughout this imaginative first half. I wasn’t sure how much of the performance reflected what Alisa thought she could do with the music, not what the music was actually saying to her. However, my appetite was suitably whetted for the second half to come, specifically with the more demanding and favoured 5th and 6th Suites.
Interval.
After the interval, the 4th Suite provided more of the same but didn’t particularly stand out for me.
Turning to the 5th Suite, the first half of the Prelude made full use of the scordatura tuning of the A string down to G, producing a properly dark and rich sound. The second half fugue was then despatched with suitable aplomb. I did find the following Allemande a bit fidgety, but by the time we had progressed to the singular Sarabande we were in for a treat.
Control of dynamics and space between the lines was frankly astonishing. You could hear a pin drop in this movement where time seemed to stand still and I was gratified, when looking around to see audience members leaning forward to commune with this amazing interpretation. I don’t expect to hear a better performance of this section this side of Heaven!
Finally!
Moving on to the 6th Suite, there were some signs in the opening Prelude that the cellist was, quite reasonably given the concert’s cumulative demands, beginning to tire as there were odd intonation issues in the higher lying passages. I also felt this movement could have sung out more as opposed to Alisa’s more internalised performance, but that’s a matter of personal taste.
Her following Allemande, itself an extended piece already, was another movement where matters of timing seemed irrelevant, as the shaping of the lines was beautiful. By this stage, some members of the audience were leaving. (no doubt due to the concert overrrun with trains to catch or parking fines to avoid!) This was certainly proving to be their loss. The final Sarabande was another special movement with much pathos throughout (despite unfortunate audience coughing breaking out…). By the time of the concluding Gigue the soloist gave every ounce of what she had left to Bach’s brilliant and uplifting conclusion to the cycle.
It’s fair to say that the audience clapping at the end could not be described as polite. They were applauding raucously, with many giving standing ovations for an extended period.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, I was never going to agree with all the interpretative decisions that were made. (I doubt any performance could achieve this.) But I am happy to declare the concert a true bucket list moment that will long remain in my memory. I look forward eagerly to Alisa’s forthcoming album release of the Suites.
Mark