The Ultimate Consolation: Pieter Wispelwey Plays Bach’s Six Cello Suites (2)
Last week, this programme featured the first part of a concert recorded on Saturday 14 January 2017 at the Noorderkerk in Amsterdam. That afternoon, Pieter Wispelwey performed all six cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach. Today, we’ll listen to the remaining two suites: the melancholic Fifth and the brilliant Sixth.
This is followed by Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which the Dutch writer Anna Enquist once aptly characterised as “music that you undergo with your head held high and tears burning in your eyes; while facing your misery, you are comforted at the same time” [Maatstaf, vol. 41 (1993), nos. 3/4, p. 154].
For those who find the harpsichord less appealing, there is a welcome alternative: Dmitri Sitkovetsky’s 2009 arrangement of the Goldberg Variations for string trio. The work is performed by violinist Pekka Kuusisto, violist Lily Francis and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. This live recording was made in 2016 in the Small Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Playlist:
Works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Suite for Cello No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
- Suite for Cello No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012
Pieter Wispelwey, cello
Date: Saturday 14 January 2017
Venue: Noorderkerk, Amsterdam
Recording engineer: Wijnand de Groot
- Aria with Diverse Variations (Goldberg Variations), BWV 988
- Inventions, BWV 772–786 (selections)
Pekka Kuusisto, violin | Lily Francis, viola | Nicolas Altstaedt, cello
Date: Wednesday 23 March 2016
Venue: Concertgebouw (Small Hall), Amsterdam
Recording engineer: Sabrina ter Horst
