With his keen, adventurous musical intellect and an interpretative idiosyncrasy that breathes new life into the standard repertoire, Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey is fast assuming a hallowed place in the cellist pantheon. Influenced by the revolutionary Early Music movement in the Netherlands under luminaries such as Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt and Nicholas Harnoncourt, Wispelwey gained great acclaim with his first recording of the Bach cello suites on baroque cello. His repertoire, however, spans many centuries. A much lauded recording of Benjamin Britten's cello suites followed swiftly on the heels of his Bach recording and he is equally at home on baroque and modern cello as he is playing Bach, Dvorak, Lutoslawski or Crumb. Wispelwey is currently touring Japan with a program of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven, and The Japan Times caught up with him to talk about the music that he is perhaps best-known for -- the endlessly fascinating Bach cello suites.
What was your first memorable experience with the Bach cello suites?
I heard Anner Bylsma perform the Bach suites for the first time when I was 15. It was overwhelming -- a total shock, not so much the style of his playing but its magic. It became a milestone in my life. Bylsma was later my teacher, but I never did Bach with him on purpose.