Subtlety of approach allows an Italian to stand out
The Strad Issue: April 2026
Description: Subtlety of approach allows an Italian to stand out
Musicians: Miriam Prandi (cello)
Works: Bach: Cello Suites
Catalogue number: FUGA LIBERA FUG858 (2CDs)
Miriam Prandi uses a ‘converted’, metal-strung Grancino cello (1712) and modern bow throughout, even for Suite no.6. She gives intelligently informed and emotionally engaged accounts that are characterised by technical precision, stylistic flexibility, a considered application of Baroque aesthetics and a relaxed approach to recreating Bach’s musical rhetoric, particularly in the rhapsodic Preludes.
She effectively employs a generously free rubato for harmonic and phrasal emphasis, creating a rhythmic pliability that yields a quasi-improvisatory sense of the line, yet preserves a firm underlying pulse. Her light bowing style yields clear articulations, particularly in stylised dances such as the Gigues of nos.1, 2 and 6 and no.6’s Courante, which are dispatched with aplomb.
As doyenne of this music’s infinite moods, Prandi especially captures the gravitas of no.2’s Prelude and the Sarabandes, carefully voicing passages involving multiple-stopping.
She is also particularly adept at balancing the interplay of internal voices in the fugal section of no.5’s Prelude, while preserving rhythmic fluency and continuity of line.
Her spectrum of dynamics and timbres is striking – sample, for example, no.6’s Prelude – but she is sparing with the addition of ornamentation in repeated sections.
Tempos are carefully determined overall, although listeners may question the express speeds of no.2’s first Minuet and the Courantes of nos.1 and 2, as well as her idiosyncratic rhythmic realisation of no.6’s Gavottes.
With a clear recording that embraces resonant bloom and ‘noises off’ without obscuring musical detail, Prandi offers intimate, meticulously prepared accounts that showcase these cello staples in a fresh light.
ROBIN STOWELL
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