Enrico Mainardi Bach Cello Suites
Auditioned complete set of the Suites from streamed files of the boxed set “The Cello Champion” On the Documents label released 2017. Cat no 285162/71
To keep matters simple, I would refer the interested reader to the following link:
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Mainardi-E.htm
You will see that Mainardi released many records of individual Suites in the 1950s but no complete sets. I believe the versions on the “Cello Champion” compilation to be those versions.
There is also what I believe to be a live recording from 1957 of the first three Suites.
Finally, a complete set of the Suites was released on Eurodisc in 1963/4. As yet I have not been able to listen to this due to the high cost of copies of the CDs and LP on the market. There also appears to be no digital release currently available.
The Cellist
From the excellent biography on the Bach Cantata web site and other observations made mainly by his pupils, I gather that Mainardi was a child prodigy, who grew to be a very charismatic and popular performer and then later a highly respected teacher, somewhat forthright in his views!
Because of his stature in the cello world, I have felt compelled to listen to his recordings and in doing so have tried to be as objective as I can bearing in mind the age of the recordings. This is important as it clearly impacts what I hear both technically and stylistically.
The Recording.
The acoustic is very dry and has a quality akin to a home recording with very little of the room acoustic to be heard. It is in mono. Nevertheless, the sound is clean, free of hisses and pops so I presume it has been made from original tapes rather than LP copies. The bandwidth sounds a bit restricted.
The Music.
Frankly, Mainardi’s performances do not come up to scratch with even contemporaries such as Antonio Janigro. The cello often sounds as though it is being ground out. Forced landings on low notes often produce errors of intonation.
Most noticeable to my ears is that the sound is very two dimensional and metronomic. There is dynamics and some rubato but there is an almost mechanical feel to the playing. There seems little sense of direction and sparse rhythm.
For the most part there is little reason to doubt the technical proficiency of Mainardi but give the Preludes of the first and sixth Suites a listen and try to convince yourself this is not a music college student playing.
In short, I could not find anything that made me want to listen to these recordings again.
Conclusion.
I’m afraid Mainardi’s Bach is not for me! I should add that I listened to the performer’s recordings on the same compilation of the Haydn concerto no 2 and the Beethoven Variations “Bei Mannern…” Here the cello sound is much more sweet and attractive and with musical feeling. I can only conclude that Mainardi had a very dogmatic view as to how Bach should sound which obviously chimed with listeners in the 50s but certainly not with me 70 years later!
Charles.