Home >  A & E

Friday, January 31, 2003

By Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic

1. Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-): Sheer power and interpretive vision characterize this monumental talent. He probably would have been a Sviatoslav Richter, if he had focused more on the piano, or a Evgeny Mravinsky, if conducting had kept his focus. But the music world has plenty of pianists and conductors, and we're lucky he picked the cello. His inspiring of contemporary composers to write for the instrument is as important as the high level he attained playing it. Rostropovich tears into music with an edge that is sharp and decisive. His attention to detail impresses, although he is less concerned about subtlety than over-arching concepts and overwhelming emotions. To hear a performance by him, live or on recording, is to feel an event has occurred that can leave you winded, but artistically satiated.

2. Yo-Yo Ma (1955-): He plumbs vulnerability like few performers ever had. His masterful technique amazes you by its apparent ease, but it is his ability to draw the listener into his own psyche that is remarkable. In this way he has opened the cello and the greater classical canon to those who felt intimidated by it. An ambassador as much as a fabulous musician, he has made the classics accessible without losing any standard of excellence. This is largely due to his ability to simplify music when performing it -- bringing the most essential part of the music to the fore. He also has been hugely important in the creation of new repertory for the instrument.

3. Pablo Casals (1876-1973): He built the very definition of the modern cellist. With poetic grace and intellectual fortitude, he helped bring the Bach cello suites back, as it were, into fashion. The beauty of his tone -- never gushy, as is the case for many copycats -- may never be matched. Through his teaching and performing, his influence on the generations that followed is hard to overstate.

4. Anner Bylsma (1934-): He found a different road to the goal of mastering the cello. Looking back to how the instrument was performed when much of the repertory was written, Bylsma unlocks composer intent and audience delight. Performing on a period cello (without an endpin and with gut strings and a lighter bow), he helped create a counter-revolution of methodology to Rostropovich's conservatory prowess. Both enhanced the cello's technique, but Bylsma explores the delicate, subtle and fluid elements of Bach, Boccherini, Beethoven and the like. Playing music we thought we knew, he makes us essentially hear it for the first time.

5. Jacqueline Du Pre (1945-1987): The tremendous heart of this woman has become a stereotype, but it is awash in truth. Du Pre was a more accomplished technician than often given credit, but there is no denying her broad bow strokes, deep timbre and emotional heft are the cause of her remarkable interpretations of such works as Elgar's Cello Concerto. Multiple sclerosis prematurely ended her career and life, but her marvelous recordings live on.

Andrew Druckenbrod can be reached at adruckenbrod@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1750.