Why Brazilian Cellist Antonio Meneses Record the 6 Suítes for Cello one more time?

By Rafael Torres

The 6 Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach are among those infinitely rich pieces by the German master of the Baroque. They could have gone unnoticed by everyone if, at the end of the 19th century, the young Pau Casals had not found the scores in a used bookstore in Barcelona, believed it was indeed Bach, and incorporated it into his repertoire.

Casals lived until the 70s of the XXth century and recorded the piece several times. It was completely justifiable to record your repertoire more than once. Each decade, technology advanced in a way that the recorded sound had more and more quality. Calals' recordings are an Intangible Heritage of Western culture, and many people revere these recordings. I confess that I find it difficult to do so. Like every romantic pioneer (in the sense of romantic interpretation, the opposite of HIP), Casals made many mistakes and had some ideas that don’t appeal to me much. But there are those who sanctify him, it's ok, and some of them are musicians far better than I.

I could have asked Antônio Meneses what led him to record the piece for the second time. But I prefer to take a risk and try to guess just by listening to the sound of the two recordings. I’ll say right away that the new one does not replace the first. Look at the covers of both:

The first (2004).

The second (2023).

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Antônio Meneses

The cellist from Pernambuco (Northeast Brazil) emerged in the early 1980s when he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (in the Cello category, it should be said). He made an even bigger splash when conductor Herbert von Karajan invited him to record. Together, they recorded Brahms’ Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra with Anne Sophie Mutter on the violin and Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote", a symphonic poem featuring a solo cello. His fame grew even more when he joined the Beaux Arts Trio for 10 years. Always traveling between Brazil and abroad, he has recorded pianist Cristina Ortiz, with Osesp (Villa-Lobos’ Concertos and Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra) and gave recitals with pianists of the caliber of Maria João Pires and Nelson Freire.

He has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Czech Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Chailly, Mariss Jansons, Claudio Abbado, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Sanderling, Neeme Järvi, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Riccardo Muti.

I just found out that he died this Saturday in Basel (Switzerland) at the age of 66, automatically canceling the interview. Toinho, eu não acredito em deus, porque parece muito com as lendas mais fajutas que se contava com toda a convicção no passado, mas onde quer que esteja, esteja bem. But I still have many great musicians to ask on his behalf. In this case, I turned to the great Italian violinist Emanuele Baldini and to pianist Cristina Ortiz.

"Arara: Master, why did Antônio Meneses re-record Bach's Suites?"

"Baldini: Because a recording is nothing more than a sound photo that captures a moment, a stage, and each of us change a lot over time. In music too, there are always new things to say, to discover. No recording is definitive."

"Arara: But is there something like a ‘final testament’? Or does it have to do with the HIP movement, since it was recorded a semitone lower?"

"Baldini: No, many cellists and violinists have recorded the same works more than once; it’s part of the normal process of growth and maturation of the musician. And of the opportunities that come along the way."

"Cristina: It's part of the evolution of every musicisemitone loweran. But we have to see that there. It could be a number of things - new strings, new instrument, the temperature at the studio, etc."

And there you have it. Italy 2 x 0 Brazil. Baldini pulverized my guess. Words from a violinist who knew and recorded with Antônio. So let's get back to Antônio Meneses’ biography. The three recordings of the Suites that he made were: one private, which he did in the 1980s for some Japanese baron; one for Avie, in 2004; and the most recent, for Azul Music, in 2023.

His discography on Spotify features 24 albums, while his official website lists 43, not including the most recent one (the one with the Bach' Suites, second undertaking). This is an extraordinary achievement for a cellist, especially a Brazilian one, even more so from the Northeast (the Northeast of Brazil, although scientifically proven to be the center of the universe, is considered by some people from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to be a late and slow region, but the truth is that as much south you go in the coutry, the more prone they are to electing politicians that will rule to keep them rich, and us, well, late).

Anyway, Antônio Meneses' discography includes piano duos (everything you can imagine—Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Villa-Lobos, etc.), solo cello pieces (like Bach's Suites twice), and concertos (Haydn, Villa-Lobos, Elgar, CPE Bach, Brahms, and Richard Strauss - Don Quixote). This is without mentioning his discography with the Beaux Arts Trio, possibly the greatest piano trio ever.

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Should we continue listening to both commercial recordings?

Yes, my dear ones. As Emanuele Baldini rightly said, each re-recording represents a new conception of the music by the artist. I don’t recommend looking for the first, the real first one, as it must have been recorded with the assurance that it would never be released (it may not have been at an acceptable level for Antônio for release). As for the other two, I’ve already said: he recorded each one at a different pitch, giving us more than enough reasons to enjoy them at will.

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The Beaux Arts Trio, with the late Menahim Pressler (piano), Daniel Hope (violin) and Antônio Meneses (cello).

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