Author: Maurice Neuman

Bach Cello Suite no. 6 in D major, BWV. 1012

The prelude of this grandiose suite is the longest prelude of the six suites. There is speculation that Bach intended this suite for the five-stringed violoncello piccolo, cello da spalla, or viola pomposa, but there is no way of knowing for sure. What we do know is that this prelude (and suite) is set very high in the cello’s range and is incredibly difficult to play. I have been listening to this suite ever since I was quite young and have always noticed how many different ways there are to play it. Therefore, when I began learning the prelude, I naturally explored the many options. I found that I prefer a slightly more romantic approach than some other cellists do, mostly in terms of articulation and bow stroke. I tend to use a more “into the string” stroke, whereas a musician with the goal of being as historically accurate as possible might use a lighter, drier stroke. A huge challenge that I encountered during the process of learning this piece was the idea of balancing technical issues with phrasing & musical things. Obviously a large part of learning this movement is simply getting the notes down, but it is also important, as always, to make the music interesting to listen to by playing what Bach wrote (dynamics, following the lines up and down), but also by adding my own musical ideas to the music. Another consideration that I want to mention is the differences in performance spaces and their varying acoustics. When playing anything in a super resonant hall (but especially this Bach movement), I had to be careful not to take too fast of a tempo at risk of losing clarity. Since this Bach Prelude has so many moving notes and many changing harmonies, it is important to play according to what the space allows. This adjustment can also be achieved through articulation—shorter notes and less vibrato might work better in a resonant space, whereas you might be able to afford to play more legato and with more vibrato in a drier space. 

Mendelssohn: Auf Flügeln des Gesanges

The lyrics of this song are borrowed from the poem “Auf Flügeln des Gesanges” by the German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine. Originally for voice and piano, I borrowed this song for cello and piano (arranged by David Popper!!). When working on this song, I found that it was important to try to sound as similar to the human voice as possible and to try to phrase as a singer would, keeping the words and their meanings in mind at all times. There was so much freedom in this song, especially in terms of timing—there were many instances where it just made sense to take a breath before continuing. Throughout my time working on this piece, a big focus of mine was to make the second time through (there was a repeat) different from the first. I explored the possibilities—louder, softer, a bit slower, a bit faster—and ultimately decided to create that difference with my tone and with timing. There was a section that I played more or less straight the first time, but decided to use rubato the second time to create more of a sense of flow. Additionally, during the second time through, I tried to make the quiet sections extremely delicate and special by playing closer to the fingerboard, tilting the bow hair towards me, and applying less pressure to the string. Overall, I am so glad that someone (Ruth, I think) suggested doing this song—it is absolutely beautiful and I am so happy that I got to work on and perform it with Andy.

Unser Konzert!

Firstly, I was struck by how nice the space was! For the past month I had been walking past the Alte Börse (see below) but had never realized what a beautiful structure it is. So, I just wanted to express how lucky I feel that we were able to perform in such a space. I am also so proud of everyone—from watching the concert, I could tell that everyone had put in a lot of hard work, and I really enjoyed each performance. I thought that it was so nice that all the people from InterDaf came—it was very supportive and I appreciate them taking the time to do that. I am so glad that we got to play/sing the two Bach pieces together—it was a really nice way to begin & culminate the program, and I just felt lucky to be making music with everyone. 

A bit on InterDaf ~

I really enjoyed the German aspect of this course. Though I realize that not everyone had a fully positive experience, I just wanted to talk a bit about mine. When I began the course, the teachers did not exactly know where to place me because I had not taken the placement test (it ended up having been sent to my spam folder and I just never found it). So, I tried out a few of the levels and ultimately ended up in C1 (see our class pic below). I was scared because, although I had taken German for a long time, I really did not feel secure speaking German and I had also not spoken for over a year (since the last time I spoke more than a couple of words was in high school). Anyway, for the first few days, even the first week, I was doubting my choice to do C1—it was hard to understand the teacher as she spoke rapid German in a Leipzig accent, and I felt that the others in my class were much better at German than I was. AFter that adjustment period, however, I began to greatly enjoy the course, partly due to how challenging it was for me, and partly due to the content. Gradually I became more comfortable making mistakes and asking questions, and I also started to understand a lot more of what my teacher was saying. Throughout the weeks, I felt my German improve, and by the end of the course, I became so much less scared of talking in German, not only in class, but also to strangers on the street. 

Bach in VR

The concept sounded really cool and I thought that I would really enjoy it. I did at first, virtual reality is seriously cool and the harpsichord that was in the middle of the room really looked real. However, as I wore the goggles for longer, it started giving me a headache, and also made me weirdly drowsy. I know that a few others had a similar experience—as I woke up for a moment during it, I noticed that others were also slumped over, fast asleep ;).

This was my favorite concert on this trip by far, due partly to the music, but also to the very comfortable seating and wonderful view of the musicians and conductor that we had. First of all, I had never before heard a concerto consisting of three pianos and an orchestra. I enjoyed the piece of music (I mean, it was Bach!), but did not really understand why having three pianos was necessary. The second and third piano parts were often doubled by one of the string sections and it just seemed maybe a little bit excessive. That being said, I’m not complaining—it was a sight for sure, and we got to watch them use the piano lift to transport the pianos underground. I also thought it interesting that they completely removed the lids of all the pianos, which is also not something that you see that often. 

The second piece of music was one that I had not heard before, but despite that, I quite enjoyed it. There was a lot of dissonance, which I have historically not always been the biggest fan of, but in this case, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and was surprised by the end of the piece, where the composer transitioned away from dissonance. During this piece, I was especially impressed by the places where all the strings were playing the same rhythm. It was super together and there were a couple of parts where the whole string section pizzed almost perfectly together.

My favorite was Brahms 4. I had never heard this live before, which is kind of shocking to me. I recognized the themes from the first and third movements, but most of it was new to me. I loved it, of course. Brahms has always been one of my top two composers and this was no different. The long gorgeous melodies just make your heart want to sing. If I am being completely honest, I was a bit less impressed with the orchestra for the Brahms—obviously it was still amazing, but if I am being really picky, there were just a few issues with the winds and brass. The principal horn player had some minor intonation issues during his big solos, and there were just some parts that lacked cohesion, but again, these are tiny tiny things that did not at all affect the overall performance. 

Before the concert, my parents had texted me saying that I should try to meet a couple of the string players that they knew in the orchestra after the concert. Ruth was kind enough to go with me, and thank gosh she did—I would not have had the courage to just go up to random musicians and tell them that I was here to meet somebody. Anyway, this one nice man let us in backstage and found the principal cellist for us! He knew my dad and was a super sweet guy. We talked to him for a few minutes and Ruth got a photo of the two of us together (see below). It was a wholesome interaction and I am grateful to Ruth for initiating it.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. I also forgot to mention that despite having gone to many orchestra concerts in my life, I had never sat behind the orchestra before, so this was a new experience!

Tuesday, June 17th — This concert of all six of Bach’s cello suites took place in the Thomaskirche, and this was my first time seeing the interior. I found it to be much more rustic and plain than the beautiful and fancy-looking Nikolaikirche. The patterns on the ceiling of the church were very unsettling to me (see below) and I much prefer the aesthetic of the Nikolaikirche.

Moving on to the performance, though Jean-Guihen Queyras is a cellist whom I have never heard of before, his performance was compelling and beautiful.

It was a night full of surprises — First of all, I expected to enjoy the latter three suites much more, however that was not the case. I think that he played the first three suites much better than he did the latter three — not only were they more technically accurate, but also the phrasing was more convincing for me.

A few musical choices that I want to highlight:

In the D minor (2nd) suite Menuet I, Queyras chose to pizzicato the first half, the first time he played it. The second time through he played it normally (arco). This is (at least for me) completely unheard of and I must say, I was not the biggest fan. Now, I will say that because of the nature of the concert (the continuous performance of the suites and the amazing resonance of the church),  in some ways it worked and at the very least, definitely added a great deal of contrast.

Also in the D minor (2nd) suite but this time the Sarabande, I heard some strange notes near the end of the movement, the second time through. At first I thought it might be possible that he just played the wrong notes, but after discussing with Ruth, I realize now that it was a melodic choice — again, not necessarily one that I agree with, but definitely interesting.

Lastly, I was more than anything curious about Queyras’s choices regarding repeats. He took some and not others — there was no detectable pattern and seemingly no clear reason why he took some and not others. For reference, when performing the suites, it is standard and acceptable to play all the repeats, none of the repeats, or sometimes just the first or just the second repeat. However, in the case of last night’s concert, for some movements, Queyras took both repeats, some he took none, and others he took one of the two. If I had gotten to talk to him after (which I could of, but I was hungry :\ ) I definitely would have asked him about his choices. It is even a possibility that he simply decided on the spot if he would take a given repeat based on how he felt, how tired his hands were, or even if he felt like he wanted another chance at a section of the music.

This was a performance full of interesting and unexpected choices. Overall, I enjoyed the concert and learned from it — though in some cases I learned what I do not like.

So far I have been loving Leipzig–I came in with few expectations and have been really impressed by the city.  My two favorite things: the city center and public transportation. The city center is quite beautiful and so gloriously car-free! There is so much to look at when walking around–cute bakeries, clothing shops, nice restaurants–and because of the goth festival that occurred this weekend, there have been a lot of food/drink carts, and there’s been live music playing.  I also love how there is little pattern and uniformity to the city center–there are often little alleys that lead to other shops. In terms of public transportation, I am so jealous! I wish that Chicago, or more broadly America, had public transportation that was this convenient. I especially like the street cars (Straßenbahnen).

The Bach Archive was such a cool experience. Herr Wollny did an excellent job of giving us the context of each artifact that he showed us. I thought it was fascinating that when he showed us the journals of Bach, the signature displayed on the pages was originally Bach’s, but changed from Bach’s to someone else’s at a certain date, since he had someone else interact with clients as he became more well-known. The building that we were in, especially the rising hole in the ceiling that gave way to a tiny performance space, was very cool and really indicated the wealth that the owners had at the time. Seeing the manuscripts and the crossed out music notes was really neat as well. Everything we have learned about Bach so far has indeed changed my perception of Bach. I will try to approach Bach slightly differently when playing it henceforward.

Over the weekend I also went to Berlin (for a pretty short time). I arrived late Saturday afternoon and went to see the Berlin wall briefly. I had seen a piece of it in Chicago before–there’s a small segment of the wall in Lincoln Square—but this was obviously a very different experience. A lot of what I assume used to be the wall has been reduced to a line of rusted metal rods (shown below). At the monument there was also a structure that contained the portraits and names of individuals who died at the Berlin Wall or in connection with the East German border regime. I left Berlin the next day in the early afternoon, so I did not see that much of Berlin, but from what I experienced, I think that I actually enjoy Leipzig more. It is a newer, cleaner city–Berlin was somewhat dirty, messy, and chaotic, though I was happy to see it again after so many years. One very cool thing happened to me as I arrived at the Berlin Central Station to return to Leipzig: I saw this famous cellist whom I recognized from Instagram. Her name is Anastasia Kobekina and she was carrying her cello and walking with her boyfriend. I really wanted to talk to her, so as I mustered up the courage to go up to her, I followed them around and eventually into a Pret a Manger. This story is really anticlimactic because I ended up being too scared to talk to her. I am really mad at myself though because seriously what is the worst that could have happened?! Anyway, that was my weekend. I look forward to the rest of our time in Leipzig together; there is still so very much to do and see!

We had a wonderful first meal together on Tuesday, June 3rd (which was also Gabrielle’s 19th birthday!!!) at Barthels Hof. Many of us ordered the special Rhubarb, cucumber lemonade, a specialty of the restaurant, and for food, I ordered the breaded lamb with asparagus (which is currently in season!) and potatoes. It was quite delicious; the lamb was tender and the entire dish was well flavored. During dinner we discussed logistics of our program in Leipzig, then we got dessert to celebrate Gabrielle’s birthday. It was a fun evening and it was nice to meet everyone properly.