May 5, 2024
Robinson Atrium, High Museum of Art
Atlanta, GA – USA
Yinzi Kong, viola.
Johann Sebastian BACH: Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
Johann Sebastian BACH: Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008
Johann Sebastian BACH: Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Mark Gresham | 8 MAY 2024
Johann Sebastian Bach’s six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, stand as some of the most renowned solo compositions for cello. Each consists of six movements: prelude, allemande, courante, sarabande, a penultimate pair of either minuets, bourrées, or gavottes, and a final gigue.
Despite their technical challenges, they gained widespread recognition through the early 20th-century recordings of cellist Pablo Casals. Since then, not only have numerous cellists embraced them, but they have also been successfully transcribed for various instruments, solidifying their place among Bach’s most significant musical creations.
This past Sunday afternoon, violist Yinzi Kong performed the first three suites in the Robinson Atrium of the High Museum of Art at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, presented by the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta (ECMSA).
Of all available alternative instruments to the cello, transcription for the viola seems the most direct and natural. At first glance, the only difference in playing Bach’s cello suites on a viola is the transposition of an octave up, given the cello’s four strings are tuned CGda while the tuning is cgd’a’ for the viola.
But the familiar violoncello, modern and baroque, is played upright with the instrument positioned between the legs, while the viola is held under the chin like a violin. The resulting difference is the bow’s relationship to the strings. Because of these different playing positions, with the cello, the frog of the bow (the end part of the bow held by the hand) is closest to the lowest-pitched, thickest string, while with the viola, as with the violin, the bow frog is closest to the highest-pitched string. Thus, there is a subtle difference in the musical impact of the player’s bowing choices.
At least that is the case of the modern cello and viola. However, there is recent academic speculation that Bach may have written his six cello suites for a violoncello da spalla—a small cello played braced against the shoulder. In this case, the bow frog would be closest to the instrument’s highest string, as with the viola, making the bowing choices more alike than different. That would also further support the validity of playing these cello suites on a viola, beyond the obvious simplicity of octave transposition.
The issue of bowing is further complicated because no original holographs of Bach’s Cello Suites exist, and copies, including those by Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena, lack essential performance markings, leading to interpretational questions.
Astute, top-level musicians like Yinzi Kong take these interpretive issues seriously, even if the performance space is not so caring. In the finer acoustics of venues like Spivey Hall, the Schwartz Center’s Emerson Hall, and the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta—the latter two frequently places ECMSA presents concerts and Kong has performed extensively—the details come readily to the fore.
Not so much in the Robinson Atrium, although its acoustics and more “open space” in terms of audience placement, mobility, and perspective have their unique attractiveness. The three blocks of chairs set up for audience seating were far enough away from Kong herself to not feel crowded while providing listeners a reasonable enough clarity and a particular resonant ambiance in the multi-story modernist Richard Meier-designed structure. But there was also the option of listening from upper-story balconies or the long, curved pedestrian ramps behind Kong. The minor negative side was the sounds of moving persons (including an underlying murmur of footsteps on the ramps) and the occasional, but greatly enhanced, “boom” from dropped or moved objects.
Nevertheless, Kong’s performance of the first three Cello Suites came across exceptionally well and with an excellent sonic presence. Kong is not a timid performer and played with passionate engagement that was as visible as it was audible. She played the three Suites in numeric sequence, with only a modest amount of commentary in between, which kept the entire concert taut and efficient from its opening notes onward and the listeners’ attention well-focused, despite the on-and-off distraction of people walking up and down the ramps behind her.
Unfortunately, the familiar entrance that is directly adjacent to the Atrium on the Peachtree Street side of the Stent Family Wing building was locked, so one was obliged to use the main entrance of the Wieland Pavilion (which posed a few unnecessary, annoying issues, but we’ll not enumerate them here) then cross an internal bridge back to the other building, where by the time of the concert the seating was packed, with an overflow of listeners left standing.
Most importantly, the fact that this concert was at the High Museum and not on the Emory University campus turned out to be a blessing in disguise for another significant reason: anti-Israel protests at the University. An ECMSA concert scheduled for Friday, May 3, was canceled because the Carlos Museum, adjacent to the Quadrangle, was closed due to the unrest caused by students, faculty, and outside agitators.
Then, in an email dated May 6 came the announcement that Emory University had canceled all on-campus events during Commencement Weekend, including the Chamber Music Society’s annual Cherry Emerson Memorial Alumni Concert that had been scheduled for Sunday, May 12 at the Schwartz Center’s Emerson Concert Hall.
As reported the same day by WSB Radio and other mainstream news media, Emory University announced that morning that it was relocating its commencement ceremony due to safety concerns following the recent protests on campus. It will now hold its commencement activities on May 13 at the Gas South District in Duluth, Georgia, some 26 miles and just over an hour’s drive from the Emory campus. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Yinzi Kong: music.emory.edu/people/biography/kong-yinzi.html
- Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta: chambermusicsociety.emory.edu
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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