Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Cello Suites (arr. for viola by Gérard Caussé)
No. 1 in G major BWV 1007 [18:25]; No. 2 in D minor BWV 1008 [22:04];
No. 3 in C BWV 1009 [21:22]; No. 4 in E flat BWV 1010 [25:50]; No. 5 in C
minor BWV 1011 [28:47]; No. 6 in D major BWV 1012 [32.25]
Six poetry excerpts from the work of Rainer Maria Rilke read by Laurent Terzieff
[11:01]
Gérard Caussé (viola)
rec. July and November 2000, Auditorium de Pigna, Haute Corse
VIRGIN CLASSICS 907665 2 [78:48 + 80:17]
The distinguished French violist Gérard Caussé has undertaken
one of the Olympian peaks in recording the Cello Suites recast for the viola
in his own arrangement. Others have certainly done so before him but William
Primrose, for one, wouldn’t touch No.6 in D major given that he considered
it wholly unsuited to the instrument. When in old age, and struggling with
hearing problems, he was prevailed on to record the set (now on Biddulph),
he simply stopped at No.5. That said, a violist of a younger generation than
Primrose, Lillian Fuchs, did record all six (Doremi)
so this is a matter of judgement.
Caussé plays all six. He does so in a freely expressive manner, taking
far greater horizontal time than either of those eminent predecessors; Primrose
and Fuchs are almost always quicker, their rhythm more determined and their
imperatives less overtly expressive and romanticised than Caussé’s
more cushioned warmth.
He steers nevertheless a generally moderate course in his playing. He certainly
eschews historically informed performance. His tone is rich, warm and rounded;
his vibrato is constantly alive and changing colour with subtle modifications
and tightening. This expressive quality never slides into a generality of
response, but one does feel, certainly in comparison with the two older players
cited, that he somewhat slights the necessary dance elements embedded in the
music. Chordal playing is not always consistent, and sometimes the result
is that music can grind somewhat to a halt whilst we wait for him to resume
the spine of the thing. Ornamentation is sparingly employed.
In all, then, these are warmly textured, rhythmically somewhat devitalised
accounts. They are lovely as examples of viola playing but they don’t
always reach to the heart of the music.
There is another aspect to consider however and that is that the music is
interspersed with readings from Rilke, in French translation, by Laurent Terzieff,
the much admired French actor who knew he was dying when he agreed to collaborate
with the violist on the project. The poems he chose are profound meditations
but make for a curious association with the suites. They will also be difficult
for Anglophones to put up with, listening at a double remove: German poems,
translated into French, read by a dying actor to preface each suite. No translations
are provided.
Jonathan Woolf
Warmly textured, rhythmically somewhat devitalised but don’t always
reach to the heart of the music.
Masterwork Index: Cello suites