NATALIA GUTMAN INAUGURATES LA FILARMÓNICA’S CYCLE OF CHAMBER MUSIC
A genuine cello myth and one of the most appreciated performers on the international
music panorama, Gutman will play Bach’s Suites 2, 3 and 4.
By Dan Lowell
Photos supplied
La Filarmónica is pleased to announce that Natalia Gutman, world famous cellist, will inaugurate their Cycle of Chamber Music with Bach’s cello Suites.
The Filarmónica says: “When in November of 2013 Viviane Hagner and Alexie Volodin captivated us with a Bach evening in the Hall of Chamber Music of the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid, we of the Filarmónica thought it would make sense to organize a Bach night in the Hall. Therefore, it is with deep pleasure that we present the great Russian cellist Natalia Gutman who will perform the Bach Suites. In so doing, she will have inaugurated our Chamber Music cycle which will be completed by pianist Varvara’s recital.”
A genuine cello myth and one of the most appreciated performers on the international music panorama, Gutman will play Bach’s Suites 2,3 and 4, a composer she knows so well. She has played the Suites on the most important stages of the world, receiving great praise for the precision and luminosity of her performance.
A disciple of the great master Mstislav Rostropovich, Gutman combines traditional Russian music with her own profound artistry, versatility and intelligence as a performer, converting her into a communicative artist capable of transmitting the enormous passion she feels for her instrument. At the same time, she is able to draw from the cello all the beauty of its soul.
Considered the Bible of the Cello, an “infinite” work as many performers describe them, Bach Suites are a great challenge for cellists due to the enormous difficulty in mastering their technique. Initially they were considered to be not ideal to be played as concerts.
Pablo Casals was impressed by the grandeur of the Suites which he returned to the original conception of dances. He was the first cellist to totally record them and that was in 1939.
Natalia Gutman will offer elegant and austere Suites. This will show off her humility, naturalness and sensitivity as a performer.
PROGRAM
CHAMBER MUSIC Cycle
NATALIA GUTMAN, cello
Johann Sebastian Bach
Cello Suites 3, 2 and 4
Wednesday, 26 November, 17:30
Auditorio Nacional, Sala de Cámara
Getting to Know NATALIA GUTMAN Better
Natalia Gutman began her musical career at an early age with her grandfather, Prof. Anisim Berlin and the professor of the Conservatory of Music of Moscow, Galina Kozolupova. She did her postgraduate studies with Mstislav Rostropovich.
She won the first prize of the 1961 Dvorak Chamber Music Competition in Prague, the third prize in the Tchaikovsky Music Competition in 1962 and the first prize of the 1967 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. This last marked the beginning of her international career.
Since then, Gutman has performed in five continents with the world’s most prestigious orchestras. She participates regularly in important music festivals such as Salzburg, Berlin and Wiener Festwochen. Among the many conductors with whom she has played and recorded were, so far, Sawallisch, Muti, Abbado, Haitink, Svetlanov, Rostropovich and V.Jurowski.
Gutman has recorded Shostakovich’s Concerts 1 and 2 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, she signed on with EMI Classics where she recorded the Dvorak Concert with Philadelphia and Wofgang Sawallisch. She also recorded the Schuman concert with Claudio Abbado.
For many years, Gutman was a professor of the Conservatory of Music of Stuttgart and presently is a professor at the Conservatory of Music of Moscow, Vienna and of Fiesole.
In May of 2005 , Horst Köhler, President of Germany, presented her with the ”Bundesverdienstreuz 1, Klasse,” the highest award of the German government. Moreover, she was named member of the London Royal College of Music by the Prince of Wales in May 2010.
