For those with stamina, Bach cello marathon has its rewards

Four days after thousands of runners took to the streets for the Los Angeles Marathon, Dutch cellist Peter Wispelwey ran his own kind of marathon. He played all six of Bach’s Unaccompanied Suites for Cello on Thursday in Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Although there were noticeable defections in the audience over the course of the three-hour-plus recital -- and Wispelwey himself showed signs of tiring -- the many who stayed to cheer at the end had good reason to do so.

The Sixth Suite in D emerged as the crown jewel of the set, but not because it was the deepest. The Fifth Suite in C minor probably has the lock on that -- although Bach, being Bach, plumbed depths almost everywhere. A case also could be made for the tragic D-minor Second Suite.

Rather, the supremacy of the Sixth had something to do with Wispelwey’s switch from the anonymous cello from the school of Vuillaume, dating from the 1850s, that he used for the first five suites to a five-string baroque instrument of the kind Bach had in mind for the last.

This instrument is smaller and lighter and has an extended treble range, which Bach exploited gloriously with buoyant, dancing melodies and rich, double- and triple-string chords. Lacking an end-pin, it is held between the knees.

Wispelwey used an example from the second half of the 18th century. Although the instrument was temperamental and required frequent tuning, he made it sound like an entire village band.

Both instruments carried their sound and presence supremely well in Disney Hall.

Unlike other cellists who dramatize this music or demonstrate their struggle with it, the 40-year-old Wispelwey played with contained, unforced, objective fluency. Nor did he try to make a distinct psychological profile -- either Bach’s or his own -- out of each suite.

He never drew attention to his virtuosity, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. At times, he could not refrain from looking to the side as if to share his enjoyment. “Did you hear that?” he seemed to say, and the only response was, “Yes.”

Bach probably never intended all six suites to be played in one sitting. With two intermissions (the first midway through the set, the second to allow Wispelwey time to change and presumably adjust to the five-string instrument), the recital was long and severe. But it also was greatly rewarding.