The Bach Suites & Improvisation: Interview With Cellist Fred Zlotkin

Frederick Zlotkin, winner of the International Music Competition at Geneva, soloist with numerous orchestras in America and abroad, member of the Lyric Piano Quartet, and Solo Cellist with the New York City Ballet for over 30 years, is clearly one of today's outstanding musical artists. He has appeared and received high critical acclaim for performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival and the New Jersey Symphony. Zlotkin has recorded a unique, fully-ornamented rendition of Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello, and has done numerous recordings for motion pictures and popular music.

	"A well-done performance like Zlotkin's leaves me with a feeling of satisfaction which nothing else can equal--not even the eloquence of Casals." --Fanfare Magazine MP3 SAMPLES Courante from Suite #1 Sarabande from Suite #5 $25

I N T E R V I E W

How did you come to start using expanded ornamentation or improvisation in your performances of the Bach Suites?

"My first contact with ornamentation came about in 1967, when I was a student at Tanglewood. I had the great pleasure of working with Igor Kipnis, a magnificent harpsichordist who was the first one who "permitted" me to add a few embellishments to the continuo part in Bach's "Musical Offering" Trio Sonata. About 10 years later, I did a great deal of work with Anthony Newman, who also encouraged and educated me about ornamentation possibilities. I recorded his cello sonata for Cambridge Records and told him that I was interested in recording the Bach Cello Suites at that time. He strongly recommended I consider doing the first recording with full ornamentation. During this time frame I also gave many performances with harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper, who has a wonderful feel for spontaneous ornamentation. Ken became my consultant and worked with me assiduously in preparing and recording the Suites -- it was a magnificent collaboration."

Do you make a distinction between ornamentation and improvisation?

"The semantics can be cumbersome, but I don't think that ornamentation is truly improvisatory, at least for me. I believe that ornamentation falls into 3 categories: First, there are certain ornaments that I ALWAYS do; these are figured out in advance, and if I feel convinced that they work and work well, I will nearly always do them. Then there is a second level that I would classify as "possible." These are ornaments that are always floating around in my imagination, even when I'm just playing the music in my mind. They often evolve and seem to have a life of their own. Finally, there are ornaments that just seem to happen -- they are NOT planned and sometimes they are just accidents, but accidents that work. If they are particularly interesting to me when they happen, I may even develop them, spontaneously, in live performance. Perhaps they could be classified as somewhat improvisatory."

The repeats in the dance movements present a clear opportunity for the performer to ornament. Are the first statements in these movements always "no improv zones?" How do you implement improvisation into the preludes?

"It is well documented that ornamentation was NOT reserved for repeats. In my recording, with a few exceptions, I chose to present the text first and then ornament for the repeats (perhaps because I was going where no one else had gone!). In the Preludes, I nearly always waited until the motives were rather clearly defined before introducing ornamentation (except for Suite IV, which is nothing but eighth-notes for the first 3 or so minutes)."

As you move from the notated score to your improvised parts the listener becomes even more focused on you, your personality, your individuality. How much of your 21st century sensibility can you allow to influence your improvisations? Is there a clear boundary?

"As in all artistic matters, taste and judgment are critical, yet they seem to evade any exact definition. Clearly, an ornamentation that seriously wanders from the chords is NOT called for in Baroque music. At the same time, there is ample room for florid ornamentations, especially when a theme or motive is repeated many times, such as the da capo sections of the Minuets, Bourees and Gavottes. I think performers have to be careful about doing any ornamentation that goes beyond the style of Bach, though I have no objection to experimentation and modernization -- consider the unbelievably progressive harpsichord cadenza of Brandenburg V, for example! Ornamentation can have a playfulness or humor, too. (I have chided with colleagues that I may occasionally be playing 18th-century music using 19th-century performance practice!). And YES, ornamentation is intended to reflect the personality, individuality and virtuosity of the performer."

How did you learn the language of baroque improvisation?

"Three ways. First, by reading scholarly writings. One of my favorites, though I don't agree with everything he says, is Frederick Neumann's "Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music, with Special Emphasis on the Music of J.S. Bach" (1978?). The second way is by studying the ornaments that composer uses. In the Allemande of Suite II, Bach introduces a flourish of 32nd notes very early, yet they never occur again. It is my thesis that he expected the performer to develop this in his rendition. Another great example, the doubles in the B Minor Partita for Violin. Finally, and of paramount importance, extensive playing with performers (mostly harpsichordists) who use ornamentation, learning by imitation, so to speak."

You mentioned the Bach transcription of the 5th Suite. Did the extent of the improvisation surprise you?

"YES. The lute version, in Bach's own hand (the Suites are extant only in editions by his 2nd wife and from two contemporaries, Kellner and Westphal) is most illuminating! In fact, I didn't use all of Bach's lute ornaments because some of them seemed strange on the cello -- I did NOT ornament the Sarabande because Bach didn't, and anything I added detracted from the starkness of that incredible movement. [I do think that someone should do a "jazz" version of that movement, however!]"

Why do you think there have been so few cellists who (are there any?) have followed your lead in this area?

"Forgive any arrogance on my part, but there are not that many cellists how can play the suites, certainly not all of them. They are incredibly difficult works, especially in live performance. This is a prerequisite, for sure -- i.e., don't try ornamenting until you can play the text! When I recorded my ornamented version, I became aware of a paradox: When it comes to Bach, people try very hard to be "purists." At the same time, inasmuch as we know that ornamentation was commonplace for Baroque performers, playing this music without ornamentation is "impure!" I think that one of the major reasons that only a few other cellists have attempted to ornament the Suites is that it feels safer for them: "I'm playing the text, how can you argue with that?" "Who are YOU, to try and improve upon Bach?" I think performers would do well to add a little danger by trying to do what the composer intended the performer to do -- ornament."

O R N A M E N T A T I O N

Ornamentation simply means the embellishment of the written text: a trill, whether added by the composer or by the performer, is ornamentation. The word itself, however, encompasses much more than this relatively simple adornment. In Bach's day, the art of ornamentation imposed a large burden of creative responsibility upon the performer. The composer expected him to use all the techniques of embellishment through the prompting of his own improvisational talents, thereby further enhancing the appeal of the music. Not only was performer ornamentation taken for granted by Baroque composers, it persisted until Beethoven's time and even beyond. In popular music, for example, the most notable instances are found in the types of improvisation characteristic of jazz.

N O T E O N T H E P E R F O R M A N C E S

The VI Suite is performed using a 5-string cello with the fifth string tuned to E above middle C. This is the first recording using this special instrument.

	"This is a wonderfully elegant performance of wonderfully elegant music." --Stereo Review MP3 SAMPLES Courante from Suite #1 Sarabande from Suite #5 $25