Here is the next track in the Virtual Master Class Project. This is a recording of the Allemande from J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 3 for solo violoncello. Leave criticism, advice, practice tips, and the like by clicking on the ‘comments’ link below the player.
Sometimes these players take 10-20 seconds to load, so give it a little time to play if it doesn’t start right away. Read more about this project here, or click here to listen to all the tracks. There aren’t many now, but you can help with that by submitting tracks or telling students & friends about this opportunity.
E-mail me submissions here (jsh177@yahoo.com)
Bach Suite No. 3 Allemande
Candidate 5
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I feel a little seasick.
It’s a good start, but shouldn’t it feel more dance-like?
Also, the 16ths are not as clear as you could play them.
Good playing
The only really major thing is pulse. I can hear that you have a sense of musically how the piece is to be phrased but it sounds very weighty and awkward right now – it needs to lighten up and dance. Think of the longer phrase – it sounds bitty.
Good intonation and good facility. Just make it flow more simply.
I don’t particularly like the seasick comment. Although, I do agree with the comments on how it should feel a little more dance like and have more of a pulse–essentially the same thing. Otherwise, I thought it was pretty great playing, good tone and musical interpretation.
The main item striking me, apart from the rubato, which is a bit extreme for Bach and oddly repetitive, is that some careful examination of the collected works of Bach (Bärenreiter Publishers) in many music libraries, you will often find the Anna Magdalena Bach manuscript of the suites. You will notice all sorts of different slurring possibilities due to the sometimes difficult to comprehend handwriting. Also, reading up in Grove dictionary of Music and Musicians about the development of the Baroque dance suite, will inform on how contemporaries composed and often performed these dance works.
Regarding interpretation, a good point of departure for study of any of the Bach cello suites, especially if it is your first time to work on these works is to listen to many recordings of these suites and especially NOT for double bass. I would recommend recordings by Period instrument performers such as Anner Bylsma (there is a fabulous set on a larger un-altered ‘Strad’ cello), to the tone-indulgent recordings of Rostapovich. Where one will give you a great sense of the Baroque dance suite (the Bylsma), and how Bach composes chordal and multiple-voice textures on a single-line instrument, the other would give you a completely different slant. You may check out the earliest recordings such as the Cassals as well as from many different cellists. Between modern and Baroque performers you will notice VASTLY DIFFERENT tone qualities from modern strings to gut strings. The more study you do, the more likely you are to inform your performance
Overall, a good performance, with generally good intonation throughout. Focus your attention on the rhythmic flow as well as the issue of Bach’s use of implied upper and lower voices. Good luck!