MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW Plain text for smartphones & printers

Support us financially by purchasing this from

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Cello Suites: No. 1 [18:08]; No. 2 [21:13]; No. 3 [22:01]; No. 4 [24:16]; No. 5 [28:13]; No. 6 [33:04]
Sofia GUBAIDULINA (b. 1931)
Prelude [3:07]
Györgi KURTÁG (b. 1926)
Message-consolation [2:59]
Krzysztof PENDERECKI (b. 1933)
Per Slava [5:39]
Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Tema Sacher [1:13]
Alfred SCHNITTKE (1934-1998)
Klingende Buchstaben [5:24]
Improvisations on electric cello. Constant: One [1:49]; Two [4:06]; Three [5:17]; Distant: One [3:53]; Two [4:38]; Three [1:28]; Four [5:47]
Mayke Rademakers (cello)
rec. Podiumkerkje, Grevenbicht, Netherlands, September 2013, February, July 2014.
CHALLENGE CLASSICS CC72682 [3 CDs: 60:09 + 60:06 + 60:01]

There are many ways to present music of the baroque era. Here Mayke Rademakers deliberately sets out to wrest this music from the ‘authentic’ school of thought and present it in a more modern sense, one in which she has “… strived to make a connection with today’s world”. This is not just a modern sounding performance but the Bach Suites are interspersed with short and more contemporary pieces. I must say that this approach works. Having the Bach juxtaposed with these modern works makes me refocus. Whereas in the past I mostly listened to the Suites in more than one sitting here I have found myself hearing all six in one go.

Mayke Rademakers’ playing of the Bach is crisp and strong and this is helped by the sound she achieves from her modern Saskia Schouten instrument. It is a different approach than say, that of Janos Starker (BMG RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-61436-2) with whom Rademakers studied with, or Mstislav Rostropovich (EMI Classics CDS 5 55363 2). It is vastly different from my own personal favourite, Sergei Istomin (Analekta Fleur de Lys FL 2 3114-5), who is firmly in the ‘authentic’ school, to the extent that he retunes his cello in the Fifth Suite and even swaps his instrument for a baroque five stringed cello for the Sixth Suite. Indeed when quickly swapping between the recording of Rademakers and that of Istomin, especially in the Prelude of the Sixth Suite, this wonderful music sounds quite contemporary.

I must admit that when it comes to the more modern pieces I only knew the Britten. I find Rademakers' recording of this short piece more rewarding than that by Julian Lloyd Webber (ASV CD DCA 592). I find none of the pieces in this survey to be out of place, with each proving a good sympathetic foil for the Bach, with the positioning of the Penderecki, with its B-A-C-H motive, between the Third and Fourth Bach Suites a masterstroke. It serves as a kind of pivotal point for the rest of the music on this recording.

As to Rademakers' own Improvisations, I found this set of seven pieces to be interesting and thought-provoking. Yes they won’t be to everyone’s taste, especially the sixth and seventh pieces, Distant: Three and four, which is the most progressive of the pieces and almost rock music. However, each of the pieces with a link to the Bach is worth investigating. They add a new dimension.

The Saskia Schouten cello has a beautiful sound which suits Rademakers' performance of the Bach and more modern classical pieces well. The electric cello used for the Improvisations is not specified, but it has a mellower sound than I had anticipated. It is only really when you get to the final two that its more abrasive characteristics come to the fore. The recording is bright and crisp which brings out the qualities of the music and of the performance. The first part of the booklet takes the form of a conversation between Mayke Rademakers and Matthijs Verschoor, who goes on to write notes about the music performed. Whilst I am usually put off by this approach, I found Rademakers’ answers quite open and interesting. A very fine recording.

Stuart Sillitoe

 

 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing