WISPELWEY, PIETER - violoncello

J. S. Bach- 6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso Pieter Wispelwey- violoncello ( Barak Norman 1710 ) and violoncello piccolo ( anon. 18th century )
Suite 1 ( G major BWV 1007 )
Suite 2 ( d minor BWV 1008 )
Suite 3 ( C major BWV 1009)
Suite 4 ( Eb major BWV 1010)
Suite 5 ( c minor BWV 1011)
Suite 6 a cinq accordes ( D major BVW 1012 )

Pieter Wispelwey received his early training from Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam followed by studies with Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in Great Britain. He won the Elisabeth Everts Prize (1985), which is a biennial award endowed upon the most promising musician in the Netherlands. Wispelwey performs exquisite both on authentic or modern cello. His expert stylistic knowledge, original and profound musical thinking, augmented by a phenomenal technique enable him to render individual, yet remarkable interpretations of the cello repertoire from J.S.Bach to Elliot Carter. For years now, he has won the hearts of critics and public alike with his unique performances of the Bach and Britten unaccompanied cello suites, and with his recitals of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas either on authentic or modern instruments. Wispelwey is in keen demand as soloist. A tour through the Australian capital cities with the Australian Chamber Orchestra was a triumph. A typical review in Melbourne's The Age, ushered in a cellist for the 21st century when it reported: "To say Pieter Wispelwey's music-making is ravishing is to utter an understatement of huge proportions...the concert did everything to confirm him as one of the world's greatest cellists. As a soloist, he played like a man possessed; his face, his whole body seemed consumed by a musical spirit whose familiar is the cello." His recordings by the Dutch quality label Channel Classics have all been highly acclaimed by the international press, and no less than seven have won international awards, including three Edison Awards.

‘Best release of the year‘
Richard Dyer (Boston Globe)

(...) worlds of expression and sound of which his more famous predecessors only dreamed (...) Los Angeles Reader (...) A change from the old decadence, but an alarming foretaste of the new (...)
Strings, February 1995

(...) Tatsache ist, da Pieter Wispelwey zu allererst ganz vorzglich und spannend, souvern und aufrgened Cello spielen kann. Er tut es mit dem jeweils adquaten historischen Empfinden (...) (...) Ich empfehle jede der zehn mir vorliegenden Einspielungen gerade deshalb, weil jede einzelne ihre ganz spezifische Aura besitz, weil also Wispelwey nie gleich Wispelwey ist. (...)
Salzburger Nachrichten, March 1996