Music for Several Instruments: Bach the Terminal Point
August 1, 2016 Heitor Villa-Lobos called Bach “…a kind of universal folkloric source, rich and profound.” He mined a particularly rich Bachian vein throughout his career, as have so many […]
August 1, 2016 Heitor Villa-Lobos called Bach “…a kind of universal folkloric source, rich and profound.” He mined a particularly rich Bachian vein throughout his career, as have so many […]
August 1, 2016 Matt Haimovitz’s continuously-evolving and intense engagement with the Bach Cello Suites reaches a new zenith with Overtures to Bach, six new commissions that anticipate and reflect each […]
June 3, 2016 Two of Schubert’s great masterpieces – as well as two of cellist Matt Haimovitz’s most personally significant recordings – are now remastered and rereleased in SACD surround […]
July 11, 2016 Franz Schubert composed nothing for solo cello, but there is a way cellists can still program his music. Matt Haimovitz’s 2016 release on PentaTone offers the Arpeggione […]
July 8, 2016 Schubert : Quintette à deux violoncelles, D. 956. Sonate pour Arpeggione. Pentatone PTC 5186 549. Le violoncelliste Matt Haimovitz, professeur à McGill et ancienne vedette de la Deutsche Grammophon, […]
July 2, 2016 Two classic collaborations from cellist Matt Haimovitz enjoy sonic glory in these restorations from Pentatone. SCHUBERT: Arpeggione Sonata in a minor, D. 821; String Quintet in C […]
06 May 2016 Watch a four minute video of Luna Pearl Woolf’s 12 May 2016 Triptyque program at the Salle Bourgie, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from La Fabrique Culturelle TV. The program features Mélange à […]
I was told by Professor Hekmatpanah that I would be “dazzled by the pyrotechnics” Haimovitz would show off, but that is without a doubt an understatement.
“In Matt Haimovitz’s impressive almost-two-and-a-half hour recording, we are taken on a journey through the dances most of us may have heard on separate occasions, one suite a a time, or programmed as stand-alone movements, but rarely had the opportunity to experience in such a neat unit. This rarity is a very special must-have for this reason. The album is full of Haimovitz’s personality, with distinctive expressive flourishes and quirks.”
“Haimovitz brings a beguiling lightness to the line that propels the listener from the sunny serenity of the Prelude to the moto perpetuo of the final Gigue, despite the deceptively complicated harmonic structure of that Suite as a whole. This, in turn, allows the almost preternatural control he displays in the Sarabande of the Fifth Suite to unravel it with all the desolation of a melodic line that has no hint of that previous complexity, and create the impact it should – as a profound statement of emotional isolation.”
Given his commitment to connecting with his audience, Haimovitz chose a unique way to share this passion with his listeners. He has commissioned preludes to the Six Solo Suites, created by contemporary composers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. “It’s a way to bring these suites into the 21st century,” he says, “to have living, breathing composers grapple with the materials, Bach’s musical building blocks, and find their own take on it.”
The six composers bringing contemporary vitality to Bach are Philip Glass, Luna Pearl Woolf, Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Roberto Sierra, and Mohammed Fairouz. Haimovitz has encouraged them to draw on folk melodies, just as Bach did in his day. As we spoke, the pieces were still being written, and Haimovitz’s excitement and anticipation is contagious.
Matt Haimovitz makes us take conscience about how this music is still alive, breathing and refusing to be encased in a stylistic protective shell.
Matt Haimovitz nous fait ainsi prendre conscience que cette musique est bien vivante, qu’elle respire et qu’elle refuse de se laisser emmurer dans une coquille protectrice stylistique.
November 12, 2015 Matt Haimovitz’s attitude toward his 1710 cello is that “it’s survived 300 years, and if you take good care of it I’m not going to be afraid […]