A man and his cello sit on stage all alone. For two hours or more, they play music written nearly 300 years ago, without the assistance of any other instrument.
That may not sound like one of the most exciting, bravura, barnstorming concert experiences around. But for several weeks this summer, Zuill Bailey's Telarc recording of the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach was No. 1 on the classical charts. It was also among the top 10 recordings in all musical genres at Amazon -- competing with Lady Gaga and Snoop Dogg.
On Saturday, Anchorage music lovers will have a rare chance to hear the complete set of Bach's cello suites performed live. And Bailey will be playing them.
'THE CELLIST'S BIBLE'
No one's sure why Bach wrote these "symphonies for cello." In some cases we're not even sure what he wrote. There is no autograph manuscript, and the four earliest surviving copies (including one by Bach's second wife) are not identical.
"You can get in the general ballpark," said Bailey, "but there's no definitive version." Each performer and each performance represents a unique approach.
The upshot is that, in the right hands, each of the individual suite "explores a different dimension of the mind," in Bailey's words. "It's beyond a concert or an event. When heard as a group, it chemically changes people. They walk in as one person and walk out, spiritually, as another, both as a listener and as a player."
Though the individual suites and movements pop up in recitals all the time, hearing all six in a row is extremely unusual. Bailey himself can only recall hearing them performed that way a couple of times. But when presented that way, they seem to take on a remarkable power; some, in fact, suspect that Bach intended them as a single sprawling opus.
At any rate, there's an undisputed catharsis that emerges from the continuity of a single-sitting presentation (with an intermission reception, complete with wine and food in the case of the Anchorage program). That's more or less the way Bailey recorded them, he said, over a series of days, stopping only to sleep.
Critical praise has poured in for the product of those sessions.
"Bailey puts a sympathetic but highly personal imprint on nearly every bar," said the Philadelphia Inquirer. "On an emotional level he's deeply involved in the music," reported Gramophone Magazine. "Probably the best-sounding recording of the works currently available," added the critic for the Classical Candor blog.
That's high acclaim, given the competition. Pablo Casals made the first recording of the full set in 1925, about 200 years after they were composed, and that recording remains available. Yo-Yo Ma also had a No. 1 classical hit with them in 1985.
"(They're) the cellist's Bible," says Bailey, "the beginning and the end, an open canvas for exploration."
'CARRY THE TORCH'
Bailey has previously performed in Alaska -- including appearances in Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio and the Anchorage Symphony, and as the soloist in the Elgar Concerto with the Fairbanks Symphony.
But we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future. He has been designated to become the new artistic director of the Sitka Summer Music Festival when Paul Rosenthal steps down over the next couple of years.
So local classical music fans will have an additional reason for curiosity regarding this concert, the first in this year's Alaska Airlines Autumn Classics chamber music series (which continues Sept. 24-26).
Violinist Rosenthal, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, came to Alaska in the late 1960s. He took a shine to the country and became a resident. In 1972, he informally invited fellow students from master classes given by Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky to perform a series of chamber music programs with him, and the Sitka festival was born.
Bailey was also born that year, in Alexandria, Va. (Zuill is a family name.) He became familiar with Rosenthal and his work through his teachers, some of whom performed in the Sitka series, which over the years spun off performances across the state, including the Alaska Airlines series in Anchorage and trips to Bush towns like Savoonga and Togiak.
"I've always known about Paul," he said. "It's a very renowned music festival."
But he didn't actually meet Rosenthal until about five years ago. "I came to Sitka and made a short visit. It was one of those magical things that, on my first conversation with Paul, I knew that we see things the same way."
He noted several similarities with the Alaska program and a music festival that he directs in Texas, where he is a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
"I came back to Sitka and we kept talking, about community and how important music and culture and the arts are in society. Then Paul said, 'I would like to continue this festival, but it's time for me to step aside. Would you like to carry the torch?' "
The transition will not be abrupt. Rosenthal continues to be involved in concerts, including the Alaska Airlines Autumn Classics series in Anchorage Sept. 24-26, and plans to remain part of the festival for the foreseeable future.
But Bailey is ready. "The Sitka Summer Music Festival is, to me, kind of the heartbeat that pumps the artistic blood across the state. It needs to be consistent and dependable."
'JAW-DROPPING'
Bailey steps into the Alaska music scene at a point when he is at the top of his field.
In addition to managing the Texas festival -- a task that demands a set of skills possessed by few professional musicians -- he is in high demand for concerts and, in the wake of the success of the Bach suites, recordings.
When interviewed by phone earlier this month, he was occupied in recording the Brahms cello sonatas and bracing for a three-town spring through the 49th state.
On Saturday he performed the suites in Sitka. On Thursday, he will present them in Fairbanks before coming to Anchorage for next Saturday's concert.
From his tone on the phone, however, he sounded enthusiastic about making this new commitment and becoming an integral part of classical music life in the far north.
"I've played in Alaska more than I remembered," he said. "In Sitka, in Anchorage, in Kodiak, in Fairbanks at 40 below. It's one of those great wonders of the world. Whether it's freezing or in bloom, it's jaw-dropping."
Like the Bach suites.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com