{"id":6579,"date":"2020-04-18T22:11:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T22:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=6579"},"modified":"2020-06-17T16:24:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T16:24:37","slug":"alisa-weilersteins-bach-cello-suites-is-out-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/alisa-weilersteins-bach-cello-suites-is-out-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Alisa Weilerstein’s “Bach Cello Suites” is out now"},"content":{"rendered":"

After her acclaimed PENTATONE debut with Transfigured Night<\/em>, Alisa Weilerstein returns with a complete recording of Bach\u2019s Cello Suites. These pieces present the highest mountain to climb for any cellist, and one of the most transcendent and rewarding experiences for listeners alike. With his suites, Bach crafted \u2014 essentially without direct precedent \u2014 a body of solo cello music that forever defined the genre and brought the Baroque cello on par with its more popular cousin, the viola da gamba. Since Pablo Casals put them in the limelight again after 150 years of relative oblivion, Bach\u2019s suites have become the alpha and omega for generations of cellists. To Weilerstein, the joy of this music \u2014 vibrant, contemporary, unquestionably alive \u2014 is the joy of discovery. Having heard and studied these pieces for years, she now entrusts her interpretation to the listener.<\/p>\n

Capturing Weilerstein\u2019s complete account of the suites in a professional studio environment, the new album represents a major artistic statement. By way of a counterpoint, #36DaysOfBach<\/a> chronicled the cellist\u2019s developing engagement with the work from the intimacy of her own home. Launched on March 17, the project saw her play a different movement each day, complete with opportunities for fans to discuss each suite with her in regularly scheduled Facebook Live chats. As Weilerstein says: \u201cIn this surreal situation, I want to find a way to continue to communicate through music, even when we are unable to gather with each other in concert halls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since signing an exclusive contract with PENTATONE, Alisa Weilerstein has released Transfigured Night<\/em> (2018), and featured on Inon Barnatan\u2019s Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1<\/em> as well as Old Souls<\/em>, an album with music for flute and strings (both released in 2019). The recording of Bach’s Cello Suites charted in the top 10 on the UK’s Official Specialist Classical Chart and was selected as part of AppleMusic’s \u201cClassical You Must Hear This Month\u201d playlist in May.<\/p>\n

Listen on YouTube<\/a> | Learn more from PENTATONE<\/a> | Listen on Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n

Critical Acclaim<\/strong>
\n“One such artist is the cellist Alisa Weilerstein, whose #36DaysOfBach project has her streaming a daily live performance on social media of one movement of the six cello suites \u2014 often following the music by chatting with those tuning in. And two weeks ago, Pentatone released Ms. Weilerstein\u2019s richly emotive studio recording of the suites, made in Berlin last year.”
\nRead the full interview in The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n

“If you\u2019re longing for the familiar, the steady, the permanent, you could do a lot worse than Bach, whose six beloved cello suites come alive anew in Alisa Weilerstein\u2019s new recording. The 2011 MacArthur fellow has been delivering gorgeous performances and leading lively discussions about the suites on Facebook Live as part of her #36daysofbach project (and she also recently offered an elucidating walk-through of the prelude of Suite No. 1 in G major \u2014 a.k.a. \u201cthat famous cello song\u201d \u2014 for Vox); but these accounts feel like a master class all by themselves. And even if you don\u2019t know them all by heart, just the familiar routine of moving from the tonic to the dominant and back can restore some sense of much-needed normalcy. (It actually feels a little like leaving the house.)”
\nThe Washington Post<\/a><\/p>\n

“With Weilerstein, you enjoy the sensation of being escorted through a Baroque dance hall by an all-encompassing commentator with a comprehensive understanding of what she plays, be it the intensity of the Fourth Suite, the balletic grandeur of the Sixth or the tragic demeanour of the Fifth. She has all options covered, and PENTATONE has recorded her with impressive presence. Very strongly recommended.\u201d
\nGramophone<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe American\u2019s sumptuous sound and modern technique have greater kinship with Casals and his successors than with \u2018period-style\u2019 performers, and her spacious readings have something of du Pr\u00e9\u2019s emotional style, with shafts of flamboyance in the third suite\u2019s bourr\u00e9es and the dark fifth\u2019s gavottes. She brings a moving intensity to the sixth suite\u2019s allemande and sarabande. This outstanding artist is a great catch for Pentatone.\u201d
\nThe Sunday Times: Album of the Week<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe exceptional cellist\u2019s music emerges with sunlit clarity in \u2026 a performance that unfolds at its own pace and in its own space, inward-looking yet confident \u2013 one captured at exactly the right time. \u2026 There are dozens of recordings of these suites to choose from, but this stands up with the best.\u201d
\nThe Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAn exceptional cellist and distinguished musician, \u2026 Weilerstein has carefully considered the path through these works, finding a magnitude of emotion. Weilerstein\u2019s contemporary approach is respectful of the Baroque origins but brings a highly expressive performance.\u201d
\nClassic Review<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After her acclaimed PENTATONE debut with Transfigured Night, Alisa Weilerstein returns with a complete recording of Bach\u2019s Cello Suites. These pieces present the highest mountain to climb for any cellist, and one of the most transcendent and rewarding experiences for listeners alike. With his suites, Bach crafted \u2014 essentially without direct precedent \u2014 a body … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3636,3688,4208,3633,3637,3868],"class_list":["post-6579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-album","tag-alisa-weilerstein","tag-bach","tag-cello","tag-pentatone","tag-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6579"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6961,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6579\/revisions\/6961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/6580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}