Concertos pour violoncelle

Description

There is no shortage of recordings of the three cello concertos composed by C.P.E. Bach in 1750, 1751, and 1753. Like the two classics that Haydn bequeaths to cellists, their success tends to overshadow many other dazzling works from a prolific output. The three pieces also exist in versions for flute, frequently celebrated, but also for keyboard (whose precedence is debated), constantly forgotten. The lightening of the counterpoint, rather than its abandonment, allows the melodic line to embrace a multitude of rhythms that the composer's inspiration renews at will, a criterion now valued more than his technical skill in aesthetic judgment. Depending on the needs of a wordless theater, the soloist can either immerse themselves in the rich harmonic fabric formed with the orchestra, appear to emanate from it, navigate its surface, or engage in dialogues that seem competitive, with interpretations that exalt its liveliness. The historical importance of this new conception of concert playing, which breaks down the compartmentalization of assigned roles, cannot be overstated. A thousand leagues away from the pitfalls of demonstrative virtuosity and dry rhetoric, Altstaedt and Cohen allow the melodic flow to naturally deepen its mysteries, reaching its climaxes without tension, with a noble and consummate art of phrasing, one of the most complex aspects (juxtaposing the staccato of dotted rhythms and the legato of cantabile themes characterizing the allegretto of Wq171). Mastered to this degree, it can create a breath that feels irresistible to the listener, essential to the eloquence made even more vibrant by a direction that stylizes intoxication in its accelerations legitimized by the intensity of the discourse and based on the identity between music and oratory. In the end, it is an obviousness that must be reckoned with. (Pascal Edeline)