Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cello Suites
Inbal Megiddo (cello)
rec. 2021/2022, Stella Maris recording studios, Wellington, New Zealand
Atoll ACD233 [2 CDs: 147]
It was the legendary Pablo Casals who re-discovered Bach’s six suites and presented them to the general public. In 1890, when he was thirteen, he found a worn copy of them in a second-hand music shop in Barcelona. He studied and practised them every day for thirteen years before he felt ready to play them in public. He was also the first to record them, which had to wait until 1939. By this time, he had already turned sixty, but he was granted a long life and lived until 1973, when he was close to ninety-seven. Since his pioneering set, which reigned supreme for more than a decade, according to Marianne Dumas’s research up until 2024 more than 250 competing sets appeared – but his still ranks among the best.
For any newcomer, the challenge is formidable, but New Zealander Inbal Megiddo is hardly a newcomer in the usual meaning of the word. She has been on the international circuit for quite some time and has a substantial discography for a number of labels. I see in the liner notes that she studied with Aldo Parisot, which for me evokes fond memories, as one of my very first LPs, when I started buying recordings in the early 1960s, was Schumann’s cello concerto with him. It’s a bit puzzling, though, to read in the booklet a quotation from Parisot where he seems to recommends the present recording, considering that he passed away in 2018 at the biblical age of 100 years (see Footnote). Be that as it may, I completely agree with his judgement: “Her interpretation is enhanced by her beautiful sound and pristine intonation, and her rhythmic freedom gives an improvisatory feel to the music. I believe that this is a superior presentation of these works. I highly recommend this CD.”
That beautiful tone emanates from the splendid instrument she is playing, a 1923 Fiorini cello, which sings nobly and warmly. The instrument is, of course, not contemporaneous with the music but approximately with the first modern performances. It is indeed a pleasure to indulge in just the beauty. To put this recording in a perspective, I dug out two legendary versions from back in the day: Pierre Fournier and the Danish master Erling Blöndal Bengtsson. Comparing timings, I found that Bengtsson was the fastest and Megiddo the slowest, and consequently Fournier middle-of-the road – but the differences are mostly marginal: a few seconds and, once or twice, a minute or so. There are two exceptions, where Megiddo is considerably slower: the Allemandes in suites 5 and 6. In suite 5, Blöndal takes 4:24, while Megiddo needs 7:03; in suite 6 the difference is less but still obvious: Blöndal 6:49, Megiddo 8:22. On paper it seems sensational but in reality one never feels that it is dragging – a little self-indulgent, perhaps, and Romantic, which is reinforced by a generous vibrato. I have no qualms about enjoying it.
Overall, Megiddo’s playing is very nuanced. There is a great deal of drama and intensity in the Preludes, the courantes are rhythmically enticing and energetic – I wrote “swinging” in suite 1 – and the concluding gigues are invariably stimulating. The one in suite 4, I likened to a whirlwind, and here, as elsewhere, her sure technique pays dividends. The recording is warm and atmospheric, which contributes to the excellence of this issue.
With so many recordings available on the market, it is more or less impossible to single out a downright winner. Suffice it to say that Inbal Megiddo belongs to the top contenders, and anyone needing a brand-new recording of the Bach cello suites can with confidence invest in this one.
Göran Forsling
Footnote
Göran raises the question of how Aldo Parisot, who died in 2018, can have recommended the CD which was recorded in 2021/2022. We have been in communication with the label, and can clarify the situation. Inbal Megiddo initially recorded the first three suites in 2017, and they were put onto a CD not for commercial release. This is what Parisot heard and commented on. When Inbal returned to the studio the following year to record the remaining suites, she was heavily pregnant, and the results were less satisfactory. It was decided to re-record them (and Suites 1-3 again), but with motherhood and Covid getting in the road, the sessions that produced the recordings on this album did not occur until 2021 and 2022.
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