EIF: Alisa Weilerstein plays the Cello Suites
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 22/8/26
Alisa Weilerstein (cello)
The late afternoon of the 22nd August brought American cellist Alisa Weilerstein to the Usher Hall to play a complete performance of Bach’s 6 Suites for Solo Cello, the second of three Edinburgh International Festival events presented that day under the umbrella tagline ‘Bach to Bach’. She played them all from memory. The hall was far from full, but Stalls, Grand and Upper Circles were all open and enjoyed satisfactory occupancy. Microphones were visible, suggesting that a recording was made.
The six suites have features of structural commonality, but each also has characteristics that distinguish it from the other. All start with preludes and use French-named Baroque dance forms, such as the courtly Allemande, the lively Courante, the stately Sarabande and the spirited Gigue. The penultimate dance in each suite is in ternary ABA form, with the first two suites using Menuets, the middle two using Bourrées and the last two using Gavottes. Suites 2 and 5 are in minor keys with a more pensive and darkly introspective character, in comparison with the playful optimism of the others.
From the first meditative Prelude, it was immediately clear that Ms Weilerstein lives and breathes every note of this music. Clarity was also a salient feature of her playing, with the rich tone of her instrument filling the hall, even at low dynamic, flawless intonation and enunciated, unforced phrasing. If there exists any tension between internalising fundamentally meditative music and communicating its every expressive and logical nuance, Ms Weilerstein has wholly conquered (or, at the very least, masked) it. As the tempo moved to the more agile dances, purity of tone and intonation remained immune to dynamic shifts, agile position-work and even double-stopping, which was particularly fine.
In a three-hour binge of top-drawer Bach, there was of course a multiplicity of especially magical moments, far too numerous to mention them all. My selection, therefore, is highly subjective and omits much that is equally deserving of mention. The anxiety of a troubled mind was caught spellbindingly in the Allemande of the Second Suite – I’ve not heard it better. The Bourrées of the Third Suite, well-known because they are so good that Bach freely recycled them, were particularly gleeful. The rustic charm of the bagpipe emulation in the following Gigue put smiles on faces that lasted through the interval. The still Sarabande of the Fifth Suite, pensive and desolate with some chill pianissimi, had me holding my breath – fabulous. The optimistic, lyrical Prelude of the Sixth Suite sang angelically high on the A-string with seraphic radiance.
In conclusion, this was a fabulous Bachathon, justly earning the standing ovation that it was awarded. I have only one anti-social curmudgeonly gripe, directed at an unignorable handful of audience members: “Does nobody even attempt to muffle a cough any more?”
Weblink:https://www.eif.co.uk/events/alisa-weilerstein-plays-the-cello-suites