OTA Berlin Apartments

Daniel Barenboim does it – sort of.

Well Daniel Baranboim did the Beethoven Piano Sonata marathon in London – it was not Bach nor cello, nor in one sitting – but you get the idea.

Pieter Wispelwey does them still and now in Berlin we have a chance to encounter and live our own Bach Cello Suite Marathon – and what a great idea!

The cello suites occupy a very special place in the classical repretoire and we have written about its specific historicity in our previous  ‘Composer Mini-Bio’ series blog article –

 http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/composers/2008/05/21/biography-of-johann-sebastian-bach/

This blog article even included its very own „Bach Performance Recomendations“ -

There are many good performances of the Cello suites available. I personally prefer Janos Starker and Anner Blysma – both very different. The Starker a bit more romanitc and Blysma a bit more classical/baroque-  and yet both equally legitimate sublime interpretations of music which I never tire to hear. Two more recent recordings of these cello partitas which deserve mention are Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk and Dutchman Pieter Wispelwey.

In this case it is the marathon artist will be Berlin Cellist Alban Gerhardt –who, if we are to believe some pictures on his website, drives around town on a scooter with a priceless Mateo Goffriller cello around his shoulders – or is the case just empty….probably [?].

His website is at; http://www.albangerhardt.com/english/index.html

Scooter or no scooter this classical marathon is to be welcomed for two reasons.

Firstly it will again popularize young Berliner artists – of which there are so many and highlight their amazing talents – this concert and type of concert provides a friendly medium for them in the centre of Berlin and outside the concert hall.

Secondly this concert dares to present the solo cello as a perfectly capable artist in its own right– and with this fabulous Bach music it takes centre stage – this is a triumph of sorts for this instrument and its players. 

While Alban Gerhardt is not one of these un-known young artists – he is already a young professional at the begining of his career – however it is milestone concerts like his that can help propel popularity to this type of solo concert and thus help other lesser known artists – and there are so many in Berlin!

As mentioned above Mr Gerhardt will be „driving“ a Matteo Goffriller (1659–1742) instrument – the best cellos in the world these are – Pierre Fournier, Yo Yo Ma, Anner Blysma and Pablo Casals all ‘drove’ Goffrillers.

The location-

‘RADIALSYSTEM V’ was opened a in Sept/2006, to provide a centre for new creative space for the arts in Berlin.

Formerly a ‘ turn of the century‘  pumping station for the ‘Berliner Wasserwerke’  on the riverside of the Spree – this old tastefully combined  new and classical Berlin architechture lends itself well to summertime outside lounging and dining.

The conceptual direction of RADIALSYSTEM V is closely connected to the structure and aesthetics of the building. Particular importance is ascribed to the architecture – allowind simultaneous use of the facilities for artistic productions, venue hire and restaurant/catering services.

The building follows the principle ‘form follows function’ – a clear and simple use of space. Using the empty rooms as a starting point, all areas can be used flexibly and can be transformed as needed . The entire building can be quickly turned into a temporary exhibition space, a concert venue or a dance labyrinth, and then quickly be rearranged in order to make room for congresses, trade shows, symposia, media events and receptions.

for more info about them -http://www.radialsystem.de/rebrush/en/rs-radialsystem-v-einleitungstext.php

Tags: 'Radialsystem V' berlin, Alban Gerhardt, bach cello suites berlin, Berlin Bach Marathon

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 11:08 and is filed under Berlin, Classical Performances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.