Chatter set to perform Bach’s Cello Suite
Bach could make the cello throb like an organ.
Chatter Sunday will open December with the composer’s Cello Suite in C minor at Las Puertas Event Center. Chatter artistic director David Felberg will play Bach’s Sonata in C major for solo violin.
Santa Fe Pro Musica principal cellist James Holland will perform the suite, made famous by Yo-Yo Ma at the site of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2002, while the names of the dead were read on the first anniversary of the attack.
The six cello suites were largely forgotten until they were revived and recorded by Pablo Casals in the early 20th century. Bach most likely wrote them in 1717-23, when he served as kapellmeister (conductor) in Köthen, Germany.
“They’re milestone pieces,” Holland said. “They’re borrowed by so many other instruments. I’ve heard them on the French horn, the viola, the trombone, bass clarinet.”
Add ukulele, marimba, bassoon and mandolin to the list.
The piece opens with a slow and emotional prelude before diving into a demanding single-line fugue and a set of Baroque dances: an allemande, then a courante, a sarabande and two gavottes.
Throughout it all, the cello plays the roles of both soloist and accompaniment.
“There are no dull stretches,” Holland said. “Everything belongs. People love the cello. It’s one of the instruments that most resembles the human voice.”
The cello was not Holland’s first instrument of choice when he began playing at age 9 in Pensacola, Florida. A group of music students demonstrated for his class.
“I heard this instrument, and I was totally blown away,” he said. “I wanted to play bass. My Mom said, ‘No, it’s too big, and it won’t fit in our Pinto station wagon.’ ”
His teacher recommended the cello as a compromise.
“I liked the depth of sound. I liked the lowness of it,” he said. “It’s a real joy to play.”