Flowing movement and attentiveness to nature
Tanja Tetzlaff in conversation with Friederike E. Westerhaus
On this CD you are pairing three Bach cello suites with two pieces by Thorsten Encke. How does this coupling change the experience for the player and for the listener?
I don’t think it changes my way of playing, but certainly our way of listening. We come to hear Bach’s works differently because Encke’s unfamiliar sonorities startle and disturb us. Inserted between the suites, Encke’s pieces open up an entirely different world of sound. After Cracks, we probably feel alarmed, and we thus adopt a different attitude as we approach the 5th Suite, which is quite agitated in itself. Then, after Clouds, which closes with a small thunderstorm, we approach the 6th Suite feeling almost liberated – overjoyed that we have survived a dangerous excursion on thin ice.
With his two pieces, Encke builds bridges among the three suites and refers to them directly in his music. I find that the two works are quite different in character: Cracks is loud and noisy – fragile, as well – whereas Clouds is more melodious at the onset. How have you adapted your playing to the two works in terms of musical character?
Both pieces feature powerful, incredible drama within a small space. Both pieces are threatening, but also gorgeous. While you are out on the thin, dangerous ice, you can survive if you manage to enter into the right sort of vibration. You can go on gliding in that beautiful ice-skating rhythm without falling through. ……(Excerpt from the interview in the CD booklet)
Tanja Tetzlaff continues to perform an extensive range of works, embracing both core repertoire and
contemporary compositions of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her recording of the cello concertos by
Wolfgang Rihm and Ernst Toch was released by NEOS.
After enjoying great success in numerous international competitions, she has subsequently performed
with leading orchestras such as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen
Rundfunks, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España,
Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de
Paris, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with notable conductors such as Lorin
Maazel, Daniel Harding, Sir Roger Norrington, Philippe Herreweghe, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitrij
Kitajenko, Paavo Järvi, Michael Gielen, and Heinz Holliger, amongst others.
Tanja Tetzlaff regularly appears at world-renowned chamber music series and festivals, such as the
Heidelberger Frühling as well as the festivals in Bergen, Baden-Baden and Edinburgh. She is a member
of the core ensemble of the Heimbach Festival Spannungen. Her regular chamber music partners include
Lars Vogt, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexander Lonquich, Antje Weithaas, Florian Donderer, Baiba and Lauma
Skride, Christian Tetzlaff, Carolin Widmann, Dina Ugorskaja and Sharon Kam.
Tanja Tetzlaff is a member of the Tetzlaff Quartett, she founded in 1994 together with her brother Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Kufferath and Hanna Weinmeister. The quartet is enjoying an extreme high reputation.
Tanja Tetzlaff and her duet partner Gunilla Süssmann have recorded three CDs together. The first
two were released by CAvi-music featuring Brahms (2012) and a Nordic-Russian programme (2008),
and their third disc was released in spring 2018 featuring works by Finnish composer Einojuhani
Rautavaara.
Tanja studied at the Musikhochschule Hamburg with Bernhard Gmelin and at the Mozarteum in
Salzburg with Heinrich Schiff, and plays a cello by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini from 1776.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.
Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
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