Wigmore Hall Live documents Colin Carr’s complete Bach cello suites on two
consecutive performances in May 2012. Though he is among England’s pre-eminent
performers whose reputation is haloed by a stellar pedigree, his pronouncements
of this music are, more than intellectually chewy, too often gummy. His Bach is
well-seasoned, with a career's worth of traversals in the cultural capitals of
the world, but his anxiety producing entrapments made a second hearing more than enough.
Though he is esteemed for his
probity, I take umbrage at his preachy scholasticisms, despite their formal
clarity. His attitude of a well-worn lecturer makes me question where the
line is drawn between an informed interpretation and a displeasing one. This
introduces many dichotomies: the rhythmic distortions used to clarify harmonic
contrapuntal structures; conspicuous mannerisms favored by cellists, among them
blaring open strings and tones denuded by non-vibrato (or strangled by it) and
the self involved music making at the expense of a small dedicated public.
