In veil spiral by Zaha Hadid, Bach sounds beautiful, but cellist Queyras lacks feeling #hf10 #gast review

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Guest review by Frank van Berkel

Last night at the Holland Festival, I listened to the Bach Cello suites in the pavilion designed especially for Bach's music by British architect Zaha Hadid. First of all, the performance by French-Canadian cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras (43); sublime! Clear, flawless (I have never heard such a beautiful pure fifth) and clean in sound. All the fast passages were played technically smoothly. The downside was that it sometimes came across as rather numb. The music speaks for itself, there is enough emotion in that, but the moments when he had to put up some struggle to accomplish the complicated movements still provided some tension. The fourth suite (in my view the least engaging) became rather dull due to its overly technical execution. By contrast, suites 2 and 3 had more poignancy in them, although here, too, the repetitions in courantes and bourées always seemed to be frazzled, not least because of the high tempo of the performance!

Now I listen to the me widely loved Pieter Wispelwey performance again. The tempi are a lot lower, making it seem a less high-end performance. But oh, what beauty through simplicity! The sound is more 'cardboard-like' in contrast to the clean sound of Quevras. This is because of the gut strings Wispelwey uses. Wisselpelwey also uses more breath between notes and longer pauses in the fermates. Something I really missed with Quevras; a pondering interpretation of each phrase. With the Bach cello suites, every phrase (almost every note) needs its time to be considered. Both for the player and the listener. Suite 4 clearly has more feeling and tension with Wispelwey as a result.

And now to the pavilion. First, it looks fabulous with beautiful curves and shapes. A kind of veil spiral where the audience and the cellist are intricate. It adds a lot to the music to not hear it in the venues you are used to (a church or a concert hall). This kind of experience suits Bach's timelessness. Indeed, in yesterday's experience, the music could have been written now. On the other hand, this experience also has a museum-like character, namely beholding ancient art in a new (modern) environment. But of course, there is nothing wrong with that.
Finally, the acoustics were perfect: the brightness of the main hall (the gasholder), capped (muted) by the fabric of the pavilion. The sightlines were not always optimal, which again was unfortunate.
Now the question remains: how would Pieter Wispelwey's baroque conception fit into such a 'design' pavilion? He would at least have to put on a good suit, with silk socks instead of goat's wool.

Seen: Bach Cello Suites 1, 2, 3, & 4 - J.S. Bach, Jean-Guihen Queyras - cello Westergasfabriek Gashouder, Zaha Hadid Architects Pavilion. Sun 6 June 2010.

Compare yourself:

Queyras:

Wispelwey