Heinrich Schiff in recital at St George's, Bristol
For some cellists, Bach's Six Suites For Solo Cello are part of a daily limbering-up routine; for others the ritual they represent is a form of spiritual exercise. Heinrich Schiff clearly belongs to the latter category. At the second of his two recitals in the series entitled Bach - a Beautiful Mind, Schiff seemed to transmit his Zen-like meditative approach to the audience, calming the senses and heightening perception of the music.
In the Prelude of Suite No 2 in D minor BWV 1008, Schiff established a contemplative mood but, by the Courante, the rhythmic patterns had an almost unruly insistence. Similarly, the Courante of the Suite No 4 in E flat major BWV 1010 succumbed to little adrenaline rushes. Schiff's instinct for Bach's balance of elements is well honed: the bowing of a long phrase to emphasise its carefully sculpted melodic line, the clarity sustaining the illusion of different voices in a polyphonic texture and the chords whose harmony grounds the music, a reminder of the movements' origins in dance forms. While his virtuosity was most apparent in the preludes and the final gigues, for Schiff the emotional core of the Suites resided in the Sarabandes. He delivered them with grace and composure, radiating their purity, particularly heartfelt in his encore of the Sarabande from Suite No 3 in C minor.
The intimacy and immediacy of these suites was intense, but Schiff's demeanour was one of great humility, concerned only to suggest that Bach's is the music of the spheres.
Rian Evans, 16 July 2007