Yo-Yo Ma has lived with the iconic Bach Cello Suites for over 50 years.
The six pieces by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach are Ma’s longtime musical companion and a source of great inspiration. The cellist has made at least four solo recordings of Bach’s Cello Suites.
In 2018, Ma started The Bach Project, a two-year journey performing the suites across 36 locations and six continents. Now, he takes his rendition of the Bach Cello Suites to the Spoleto Festival stage on May 30 at 7:30 p.m., a show which quickly sold out upon its announcement — but lucky for us, the festival is now offering a limited block of more tickets, available online only starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 17.
The Spoleto audience will witness Ma’s artistry and perspective alongside world-class musicians Angelique Kidijo and Jeremy Dutcher.
Kidijo is a West African singer-songwriter and five-time Grammy winner who mixes the traditions of her native Benin with American R&B, jazz, and funk. Dutcher is a classically trained indigenous Canadian songwriter and ethnomusicologist who won the 2018 Polaris Music award for his album “Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.” Both artists appear on Ma’s 2021 recording “Notes for the Future.”
From young cellist to legendary artist
Ma performed at Spoleto Festival for the first time in 1977 and in the intervening decades earned worldwide acclaim as one of the greatest cellists of his generation. His return nearly 50 years later will include music, conversation and special guests, said Mena Mark Hanna, general director of the festival.
“The performance should be evocative of who Yo-Yo is as an artist,” Hanna said. “He is a true deep humanist who really feels bonded to the human spirit. With his Bach Project he portrays work that has been both formed and informed by his life.”
The evolving story of the Suites
Bach composed the six Baroque suites between 1717 and 1723, based on six dance movements. According to Steven Zohn, a Bach scholar from Temple University, the original sheet music was transcribed by Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena, after he died but lacked musical markings or notes. The transcription did not include any performance directions from Bach, so each cellist renders the suites anew.
“The Bach Cello Suites are almost like the musical bible,” Zohn said. “A cellist can spend a lifetime with this music and never feel completely satisfied with the way they’ve interpreted it. I think Yo-Yo Ma would say something similar.”
When Wade Davis, cellist and educator, first attempted the suites, he did not truly grasp the significance or complexity of the music.
“I didn’t really understand the Bach Cellos Suites when I tried to play it in the sixth grade,” Davis said. “My cello teacher was so upset that I had even tried to play it without consulting him first. Now, I understand. It takes real emotional maturity to grasp this kind of music.”
Even Ma’s interpretation of the suites has changed over time. One U.K. critic considered his first recording in 1983 to be “relatively straightforward,” but, over time, “the more he brings to them new found levels of spontaneity.” Each version appeals to a new generation of listeners and performers.
“Yo-Yo Ma’s way of playing the Suites is more romantic,” said Peter O’Malley, a Charlestonian who studies cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music. “In one of his more recent recordings he played the first suite at the Great Smoky Mountains. I enjoy listening to it because it’s really relaxing and you can hear the sounds of nature in the background. He’s really inspiring.”
Bach’s music may sound familiar to audiences but never mundane, especially the way Ma plays the suites, said Temple University’s Zohn.
“Cellists will never get bored of the Suites because there’s so many different ways of playing it and so many ways to approach performing it,” Zohn said. “Ma’s rendition of the Suites is iconic. It’s honestly a mark of what great music is.”
Jaden Wilson is a Magazine, News and Digital Journalism student at Syracuse University.
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