Bach & Gounod: Méditation sur le premier prélude de piano de J S Bach 'Ave Maria' Steven Isserlis (cello), Connie Shih (piano) Filmed at Elgar Concert Hall, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom Read more and order the CD: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68477 *** We come finally to a piece that may, I fear, offend purists on two counts: 1) it dares to add a supplement to the perfect music of J S Bach; 2) unlike all the other pieces on this album, it was published not in 1851, but—shock horror—in 1853! But we could not resist adding this short extra, because it is special. Furthermore, I doubt whether the other composers represented on this recording would have objected at all. Having heard David (of course) playing two movements of a Bach solo sonata, with Mendelssohn (who else?) providing his own piano accompaniment, Schumann challenged anyone to complain about Mendelssohn’s additions: ‘He so adorned the original with further parts that it was a delight to hear.’ Inspired by this, Schumann was later to write accompaniments to all Bach’s works for solo violin and solo cello. Moscheles, for his part, a fan of Gounod’s, was so enthused by the present 'Ave Maria' (or ‘Meditation’, as it is called when performed without voices) that he composed additional cello parts for ten of Bach’s preludes from 'The well-tempered Clavier'. And who had inspired Gounod’s love of Bach? None other than the absent godfather of this album, Mendelssohn, who, a few months before he died, welcomed the young Gounod to Leipzig with extraordinary generosity, devoting himself to his young colleague for four whole days. At one point, Mendelssohn took Gounod to the organ loft at Bach’s own church, the Thomaskirche, and spent two hours playing Bach’s organ works to him, revealing, as Gounod reported, ‘an unknown world of beauty to my wondering ears’. As for the 'Ave Maria', written only a few years later: the story goes that one evening (in 1851, I hope!) Gounod sat at the piano and improvised on the first Bach prelude from the WTC for his future father-in-law, a composer himself; the latter, impressed, quickly jotted down the improvisation and arranged a private performance. The result was a piece that not only sealed Gounod’s reputation, but also left an indelible mark on many people’s perception of the prelude itself. My own first memory of it dates from a time—I must have been about ten years old—when I was sitting with my Russian grandmother, while my older sister Annette was playing the prelude on the piano. My babushka immediately chimed in with the Gounod melody, her vibrato-laden voice remarkably similar to that of our dog Dandy when he howled (the difference being that he would howl exclusively to the music of Mozart). I’ve been fond of the 'Ave Maria' ever since. As to the version we’ve chosen to record here: we have endeavoured to recreate—as best we can—something of the atmosphere of an early performance (albeit with a cello, rather than a violin—but cello was always specified as an alternative in the printed versions), as described by Saint-Saëns: ‘With Gounod accompanying him at the piano, Seghers [violinist] lent to it the powerful tones and impres¬sive simplicity of his violin, while from a neighbouring room a choir of six voices singing Latin words sustained the harmony with mysterious chords.’ It does sound like a magical occasion. And—come to think of it—Gounod was probably playing an Érard piano … from notes by Steven Isserlis © 2026 *** Follow Steven Isserlis: Facebook - @stevenisserliscello X - @StevenIsserlis Instagram - @stevenisserlisv Follow Hyperion: Instagram / Facebook / X / Bluesky - @hyperionrecords #stevenisserlis #connieshih #hyperion #bach #gounod #1851 #classicalmusic #cello #piano