//The Great Escape to the Black Hole (5)//
When chatting with folks about Mischa Maisky’s Bach Cello Suites, most people often refer to his 1984 video recordings [1] which I dubbed it “The Tux” version. And frequently during interviews, he explained why he recorded the Bach Suites the second time in 1999:
“My interpretations have never had a revolution,” he explains. “More of an evolution. For instance, when I recorded the Bach Cello Suites for the second time, it was because I heard my first recording in a shop and barely recognized it! There is a certain maturity that comes with age, and sometimes in strange ways.” [2]
And of course we can enjoy his even more recent interpretation in concerts and on digital platforms, including the home-made version in 2020 during the coronavirus lockdown.
Posted by Mischa MAISKY (2020)
But the version that intrigued me the most was a lesser mentioned one. His Bach Cello Suites concert in Tokyo Bunka Kaikan back in 1991. When I found this, I immediately asked Teacher, “What happened to him?” For some mysterious reason, back then I felt his playing was somewhat broken. Teacher explained that musicians usually go through different phases in their career. That reminded me of the episode where Maisky recalled playing for Pablo Casals:
“Perhaps the most frightening thing was to play Bach for him. Frankly, I was a bit depressed by his reaction. “Young man, I personally don’t think that what you do has anything to do with Bach. However, you are so convinced by what you do, that it actually sounds very convincing.” Isaac Stern calmed me down afterwards during lunch, saying that he thought I had received the highest compliment a young cellist could receive from Casals. I now prefer to take what he said as a compliment.” [3]
His “evolution” taught me not to be afraid of change, not to be wary of criticism from others*, even if it means completely letting go of what I possess. I may not be able to play anything decent for a while, sometimes a long while. But that’s OK because I will discover and experience life a lot more along the way, as long as I believe in myself.
* P.S. I might be imagining things. But once I witnessed Maisky shrugging off the cool response from the audience after he finished playing Beethoven Sonata.
Reference:
- Mischa Maisky, Bach The Cello Suites (recorded in 1986, DVD released in 2007): https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/bach-6-suites-for-cello-maisky-dvd-video-3339
- “Evolution, not revolution: Mischa Maisky interviewed” by Kevin W Ng. https://bachtrack.com/interview-mischa-maisky-istanbul-music-festival-april-2018
- “Conversation with Mischa Maisky”, by Tim Janof: http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/maisky/maisky.htm
the cello suite 