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Tag: Cello

Anner Bylsma Pioneering Cellist Dies at 85

The cellist Anner Bylsma has died. Bylsma, one time principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, achieved world fame in the realm of historically informed performance, leaving behind many highly-regarded recordings made with the likes of Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, and Jeanne Lamon. Together with his wife, the violinist Vera Beths, he founded the gut string ensemble L’Archibudelli. He was the first to record all six of Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello on a period instrument. Bylsma was 85 years-old.

Bylsma in Bach:

And rocking Anton Kraft:

I. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4oOHIHK6WY
II. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhukxUC8dSo
III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ2yZaysuuI

July 25, 2019
Pablo Casals Bach Cello Suites Birthday

It’s Pablo Casals’ birthday. Enjoy a beautiful Saturday morning with his pioneering traversal of the Bach cello suites, still sounding great after 80 years.

It’s hard to believe that these cornerstones of the cello repertoire were once commonly regarded as little more than etudes. The truth is, before the 20th century they were not widely known, much less understood. It is Casals who is credited with having rehabilitated them, following his discovery of the music in a Catalan bookshop at the age of 13. He cherished the suites for the rest of his life, not only playing them in public but delving into them privately every morning after a walk and a smoke. There must have been something to it: Casals died in 1973, two months shy of his 97th birthday.

He was the first cellist to record all six suites, already 60 by the time he first played Bach before a microphone.

December 29, 2018
Cello Baroque on The Classical Network

Hello, cello!

Today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network will be a Baroque recital for solo cello, presented by Loretta O’Sullivan.

On the program will be music by Johann Sebastian Bach – his Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 – and a Passacaglia by Heinrich Biber. These are the bricks of an edifice held together by grout in the form of four caprices by Giuseppe Maria Dall’Abaco, according to Sullivan, “…each with its own color, texture and mood.”

The program was presented on November 20, 2017 at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 50th Street and Park Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan, where free lunchtime concerts are held every Thursday at 1:15 p.m. The 2017-2018 schedule has run its course, but concerts will resume in the fall.

Today’s broadcast is made possible in part by Gotham Early Music Scene, or GEMS. GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York City devoted to early music – music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical periods. For more information and updates to GEMS’ events calendar, look online at gemsny.org.

Then stick around as we celebrate the birthdays of musicologist and composer Sir Donald Francis Tovey, composers Wojciech Kilar and Peter Schickele – with an appearance by Schickele’s alter ego, P.D.Q. Bach – and sopranos Eleanor Steber and Dawn Upshaw.

I’ll provide the music; you provide the ice cream cake, this afternoon from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 17, 2018
Cellist Friedrich Kleinhapl Interview

This afternoon on The Classical Network, I’ll be interviewing the remarkable cellist Friedrich Kleinhapl.

Kleinhapl has been characterized by conductor Valery Gergiev as “one of the most promising talents of a new generation.” His performances have been described as “driven and unorthodox” (The Washington Post), undertaken with “abundant skills and unbridled passion” (The New York Times). His recordings of the Beethoven cello sonatas have been hailed as “among the most interesting in the catalogue” (The Strad).

As a young man, Kleinhapl homeopathically recovered from a brain tumor, radically changing the way he thinks and feels about music. His 1743 Guadagnini cello has been outfitted with custom titanium parts. Its angled endpin allows the instrument to slant more horizontally, allowing gravity to gently assist the effect of his modern bow. With his duo partner, Andreas Woyke – pianist and composer, and his own wife, Kleinhapl founded “Get a Hearing,” an association in support of children with hearing impairment, in 2015.

Kleinhapl and Woyke will appear on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York. On the program will be works by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Schnittke, and Gulda.

I’ll chat with Kleinhapl by telephone, today at 5:00 p.m. EST. From 4 to 7, I’ll also salute Adolphe Sax and John Philip Sousa on their birthdays, among our featured offerings, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

November 6, 2017
Heinrich Schiff Celebrated Cellist Dies at 65

I am very sorry to have to share the news that one of the great cellists of our time has passed. Heinrich Schiff is dead at 65.

I’ll include a little musical remembrance, if I can, just before my sign-off at 2:00 this afternoon, on WRTI 90.1 FM and at wrti.org

http://www.dw.com/en/cellist-heinrich-schiff-dies-age-65/a-36891728

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/the-cellist-and-conductor-heinrich-schiff-has-died

December 23, 2016

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