(++++) WHY MORE BACH? THIS IS WHY

Bach: Cello Suites (complete). William Skeen, cello and violoncello piccolo. Reference Recordings. $24.98 (2 CDs).

     The question still comes up periodically: with so many recordings, and so many excellent recordings, of this-and-that music by this-and-that composer, do we really need yet another one? The concept of “need” may be a bit tricky in that formulation, but if the question is rephrased to ask if there is any justification for yet another release, which is the underlying query, then the answer comes from performances such as William Skeen’s recording of Bach’s six cello suites. The world of recorded music would be at least a bit dimmer if these readings had not been captured and made available, and that is more than ample reason for their existence.

     Skeen’s is an unusually personal and unusually personalized interpretation of these iconic, thrice-familiar works. There is nothing grand or grandiloquent in his readings: this two-CD Reference Recordings release provides the feeling of sitting in on an intimate recital or extended practice session, in which the performer is communing deeply with his instrument and the audience is listening in on and sharing a very deep emotional experience. Skeen is an expert in Baroque performance, and his fluency extends throughout this cycle, which he plays on a 1725 Giovanni Grancino cello and, in Suite No. 6, a restored five-string violoncello piccolo from the 1680s – using, in all the suites, a replica of a bow from the 1720s, which is the time period of these works. Skeen wields these weapons of peace and grace with consummate skill, comfortably engaging with the Grancino instrument’s richness of tone in the lower region and its well-contrasted comparative lightness and brightness in the upper register. The cello suites are less elaborate, complex and (arguably) virtuosic than Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin, but in Skeen’s readings they are of equal stature and so well differentiated each from the next that the formulaic nature of their structure becomes essentially invisible.

     Like many performances only now being made available in recorded form, these recordings were influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic: they were produced at Skywalker Sound, as excellent a recording venue as can be found anywhere these days, in August 2020, just as the worst strictures of the pandemic began to be lifted to a limited degree. It is impossible to pin down the extent to which the depredations of that time period influenced the performances and recordings of the music, but certainly the life-affirming qualities of these works and their constant assertion of meanings beyond the mundane come through here with exceptional clarity.

     Two-disc recordings of these six suites are not possible in the suites’ numbered sequence because of the works’ differing lengths and the exigencies of the recording process: Nos. 4-6 are just a bit too long to fit on a single CD without risking quality deterioration. So producers and performers need to come up with a rationale for whatever order they choose to use for presenting the music. In this case, the first disc contains Nos. 1, 5 and 4, in that order; the second, Nos. 3, 2 and 6, in that order. Skeen’s idea is that this presents the music in order of increasing complexity, and that is as good an argument as any – although it is arguable, given the scordatura tuning of No. 5 and the complexities of several of the movements within that suite and Nos. 2-4. It is, however, certainly true that No. 1 is the shortest and most straightforward of the suites, and No. 6 the longest and most complex, so the presentation here is quite justifiable. All the suites do have some elements in common, and Skeen’s readings bring these out: in particular, all six Sarabande movements are deeply felt and highly expressive. Beyond that, the structural similarities of the works belie their very different effects. All the suites are in six movements in the sequence Prélude – Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – paired Menuets or Gavottes or Bourrées – Gigue. But the richness of Bach’s imagination, and his determination to explore the vast capabilities of an instrument that in his time was generally relegated to the role of continuo, mean that a performer as sensitive as Skeen can and does produce six musical experiences that differ considerably from each other.

     Highlights and elegant touches abound throughout these readings. There is exceptional bounce in the speedier dances, with the Courante in Suite No. 1 in G being particularly engaging. The rich resonance throughout Suite No. 5 is impressive, the work’s C minor tonality adding to its depth. In No. 4 in E-flat, the strongly accented Prélude is packed with well-contrasted chords and runs, while the leaps in the Courante and bouncily accented first Bourrée are additional pleasantries. No. 3 in C opens with especially rich sound and resonance that Skeen preserves throughout, resulting in a particularly emotive Sarabande that contrasts very effectively with the first Bourrée that follows. The Courante in No. 2 in D minor is exceptional in the distinction between its perpetuum mobile feeling and the occasional chords that interrupt the flow, while the Gigue is nicely balanced on a knife’s edge between gracefulness and a kind of lumbering quality. In No. 6 in D, the lighter sound of the five-string instrument is much brighter than anything heard in the other five suites, with the result that the higher register is more prominent here than elsewhere. But the Allemande – the longest movement in any of the suites – has pervasive emotionalism and exceptional warmth, to which the perky Courante that follows makes an especially effective contrast.

     It is actually a bit unfair to single out specific movements and any of the many individual highlights of Skeen’s performances, since their overriding characteristic is one of unified thinking and playing: as individualistic as the suites’ movements are, these are works to be heard in their totality, and Skeen’s awareness of this and his ability to present the foundational unity of each individual suite – and of the six-suite sequence as a whole – is as exceptional as his playing of the music. Skeen, like other first-rate performers of this repertoire, is well aware that one’s thinking about the music and one’s response to it will vary and develop over time, so that any specific recording captures only a particular moment in life and a particular stage of a performer’s thinking and communicative ability. But that is the point for audiences as well: any rendition of music as profound and wide-ranging as Bach’s cello suites is heard and processed, emotionally and intellectually, based on each listener’s circumstances at a specific time. It is therefore inevitable that these Skeen performances, as outstanding as they are, will not be and cannot be the last word on the music either for him or for anyone hearing this recording. And that is the justification not only for this exceptional release but also for the many more versions of Bach’s cello suites that are certain to be performed, recorded and made available to audiences for the indefinite future.