Ariel plays Bach’s Prelude to Cello Ste. III

[Matt Faunce]

Don’t miss Ariel playing the prelude to Bach’s third cello suite. I’m
always curious how a player handles the section between 1:32 and 2:02. I
think Ariel phrased it the best I’ve heard yet! He played the whole prelude
faster than most others do, but I think this fast pace helped him make more
sense of that phrase than everyone else does. So maybe it should be this
fast. What do you think?

I commented below the video with my second and third sentences here,
(except I wrote “you” instead of “Ariel”) so you can click on the 1:32 to
take you to that spot.

[Matt Faunce]

Post by Matt Faunce
Don’t miss Ariel playing the prelude to Bach’s third cello suite. I’m
always curious how a player handles the section between 1:32 and 2:02. I
think Ariel phrased it the best I’ve heard yet! He played the whole prelude
faster than most others do, but I think this fast pace helped him make more
sense of that phrase than everyone else does. So maybe it should be this
fast. What do you think?
I commented below the video with my second and third sentences here,
(except I wrote “you” instead of “Ariel”) so you can click on the 1:32 to
take you to that spot.
http://youtu.be/5pjE86luAHk

- it's faster than other versions, and it's a bit of a jolt at the
beginning, but I found that I got comfortable with listening to it at
that speed pretty quickly. Maybe because other preludes are often also
at that speed so it "makes sense" here, too? (It would be interesting to
see what a cellist thinks about hearing it at this speed.)
- that phrase does sound good at that speed.
John

If one of these days I learn to play this piece, I’ll copy… well, first
I’ll come up with my own interpretation, then I’ll copy Ariel’s phrasing of
that one phrase, let the two interpretations rattle around in my head for a
while, then let the pieces settle into a new interpretation of the whole
piece.

[John Nguyen]

Post by Matt Faunce

Post by Matt Faunce
Don’t miss Ariel playing the prelude to Bach’s third cello suite. I’m
always curious how a player handles the section between 1:32 and 2:02. I
think Ariel phrased it the best I’ve heard yet! He played the whole prelude
faster than most others do, but I think this fast pace helped him make more
sense of that phrase than everyone else does. So maybe it should be this
fast. What do you think?
I commented below the video with my second and third sentences here,
(except I wrote “you” instead of “Ariel”) so you can click on the 1:32 to
take you to that spot.
http://youtu.be/5pjE86luAHk

- it's faster than other versions, and it's a bit of a jolt at the
beginning, but I found that I got comfortable with listening to it at
that speed pretty quickly. Maybe because other preludes are often also
at that speed so it "makes sense" here, too? (It would be interesting to
see what a cellist thinks about hearing it at this speed.)
- that phrase does sound good at that speed.
John

If one of these days I learn to play this piece, I’ll copy… well, first
I’ll come up with my own interpretation, then I’ll copy Ariel’s phrasing of
that one phrase, let the two interpretations rattle around in my head for a
while, then let the pieces settle into a new interpretation of the whole
piece.
--
Matt

Ariel sounds really good at that speed. I love his playing. Cellists played it fairly fast too. I clocked Rostropovich at 88 bpm, Yo Yo Ma at 92 bpm,
And Ariel is at 94 bpm. So he's not outrageously fast by any mean.
John N.