Yesterday, I was sitting on my couch, reading a passage in Time Magazine and I was a little bored. I normally grab my electric cello or slide guitar and fool around with new ideas but I just wasn’t in that mood. I decided to pull out my classical cello and fiddle around with some classic pieces (especially the ones learned and performed during my years at Wayne State Music School with Marci Chanteaux) and I grabbed my old, worn down book of Bach’s Six Suites, began playing the famous Praeludium to the 1st Suite and felt good. Well, I went through the first three Suites, took a break to make a cup of tea, then continued to the 4th Suite. This is where it got interesting. All of these years as a cellist, I played these Bach Suites from a book interpreted and inspired by the great Pablo Casals, But, there was something that suddenly didn’t “grab” me. It was the fact that in the Praeludium to the 4th Suite, which is generally known for its classic and melodic arpeggios, had most of these arpeggios slurred. I put down my cello and bow and decided to go online and see what other legendary cellists might have done with this piece or, in other words, how they may have interpreted it. I went to YouTube and found a performance by one of the greatest cellists of all time Mstislav Rostropovich playing this 4th Suite Praeludium and, low and behold, he played almost the ENTIRE piece by single, beautifully drawn out notes and hardly any slurs. I picked my cello back up and played this piece again in Rostropovich’s style and it felt much more emotional and intriguing. So the question that I had been thinking about all evening and going into this new day is: Should music be held, examined and performed by technicalities or by true interpretation? I’d like to study this…..
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