Marc Coppey - J.S. Bach: The Six Cello Suites (2003)

Jean Lauxerois begins his notes to Marc Coppey’s recording of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites by enumerating the many reasons why yet another version of these familiar works “to swell the ever-growing ranks” is superfluous, then explains Coppey’s decision to ignore the arguments as “obedience to a deeper logic, a feeling of necessity”. Lauxerois offers many examples of this “deeper logic”–such as that the Suites somehow correspond to the six days of creation (and on the seventh day God rested…), or that the Suites somehow possess an internal universal code summarizing Leibnitz’s best-of-all-possible-worlds theorem. While it’s impossible to know exactly how obedient Coppey has been to this “deeper logic”, thankfully he delivers an expertly performed set that on purely musical terms renders such rhetorical tripe irrelevant.

There are many moments when Coppey’s performances are reminiscent of those of Pablo Casals (EMI), Antonio Janigro (Vanguard), and more recently Jaap ter Linden (Harmonia Mundi), all of whom have a tendency to overly ruminate in the slower, quieter passages. For example, Coppey’s treatments of the Sarabande in the Fourth suite and the Prelude and Allemande of the Fifth are inordinately broad and probing. For the most part though, Coppey opts for moderate tempos that like Rostropovich (EMI) and Yo-Yo Ma’s first recording (Sony) give his traversal a cohesive, linear uniformity. Unlike Ma however, Coppey’s performances never sound precious or unduly debilitated by excessive reverence–his lively treatment of the first and second Bourrée of the Third suite as well as his entrance in the Prelude of the Fourth are every bit as freshly engaging as my benchmark 25-year-old performance by Anner Bylsma (recorded originally for ABC, now Sony SEON). Aeon’s detailed yet warm, slightly reverberant sound serves Coppey well.