Seven Preludes to a Prelude

 

“The cello concert in the monastery library proved to be a highlight of the experimental Arnsberg summer 2011.
Prof. Matias de Oliveira Pinto was playing Bach's 5th and 3rd Solo Suites in dialogue with two brand-new compositions, dedicated to him:
"Seven Preludes to a Prelude" by Jeffrey Ching and "Unknowing" by Sydney Corbett. Pinto confronted the contemporary suites with the Bach suites, movement by movement, so to speak with the movements within earshot of the other. What emerged was spectacular. One felt an almost physically measurable interaction, which was reflected both in the interpretation and in the auditory expectancy of the audience, a "spirit of rapprochement" spanning stylistic and compositional differences.
In Ching's counterpart to the 5th Bach Suite this spirit appears from above—in good Baroque style—appearing from nowhere (and nowhere audible), and remaining an ecstatic mystification until the end, despite the expansion of playing techniques over the entire body of the instrument, including the gestures of the player. What is played between pianissimo and fortissimo in Bach, in Ching's approach acquires a tremendous acoustical breadth and wealth of sensuous colour, from percussive motifs on bare wood to moments of complete abstraction of melody and harmony. Even the modern tuning in fifths is subordinated to Ching’s preference for magical sound effects: in a reversion to early Baroque scordatura, overtone partials are combined in new ways to radiate unusual harmonies.
Whistling bow-strokes cutting the air – right and left whizzes the bow– are not only perceived as an extreme acoustic event, but could also be understood as a "code", probably thanks to Bach (the doyen of musical imagery and symbolism), and of course thanks to the unwavering conviction of the cellist. [...] The enraptured audience would have liked to hear the concert again.”
 
Elisabeth Pflüger