The Strad (UK)
BACH Six Cello Suites BWV1007–12
Henrik Dam Thomsen (cello)
OUR RECORDINGS 8.226121/2 (2 CDs)
No lack of personality in these fine modern-instrument accounts
Danish cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen stands by his conventional late 20th-century training and standard 'modern' instrument (a 1680 Francesco Rugeri) and bow to deliver all six suites. Another positive outcome from the pandemic shutdown, when Thomsen could devote time to study these works anew, these warm and crystal-clear recordings were captured in the pleasing acoustic of Copenhagen's Garnisons Kirke. Regrettably, some breathing, percussive finger-stop sound and other extraneous noises occasionally obtrude.
Thomsen's accounts combine seemingly effortless virtuosity with fine musicianship – he overcomes with accuracy and evident ease the added difficulties of playing no.6 on a four-stringed instrument – and they are characterized by a free, relaxed rhetorical approach. Some may find his interpretation of no.1's Prelude over-phrased and somewhat stop-start, with a consequent loss of the shape of the extended line, but his rhythmic flexibility, light bowing, and precise articulation are otherwise positive attributes elsewhere. No.2's Prelude is more freely felt and no.5's, essentially a French overture, is stylishly and extrovertly dispatched.
Tempos for the stylised dance movements are relaxed but poised. His Allemandes are graceful and judiciously pointed, but he tends to scamper through the Courantes, especially those in nos.1, 2 and 5. His Sarabandes have excellent lyricalism and eloquent phrasing, especially that of no.3 and the poignant nos.5 and 6, and the Gigues are consistently buoyant and spirited. Of the 'galanteries', the Menuets are very fluid, the Bourrées well contrasted and the Gavottes characterfully played, especially no.6's folksy second Gavotte. Repeated sections are mostly literal, with little (if any) additional ornamentation. Robin Stowell, The Strad, October Issue 2024