Suite Cubed Umberto Clerici

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
• 1Bach: Suite For Cello Solo No.6 In D Major, BWV 1012: 1. Prélude04:46
• Giovanni Battista degli Antonii (1636 - 1698):
• 2Antonii: 12 Ricercate: Ricercata XI04:02
• Alfredo Carlo Piatti (1822 - 1901):
• 3Piatti: 12 Caprices for Solo Cello, Op. 25: No.9 in D Major02:01
• Johann Sebastian Bach:
• 4Bach: Suite For Cello Solo No.2 In D Minor, BWV 1008: 4. Sarabande04:23
• Giovanni Sollima (b. 1962):
• 5Sollima: Alone05:30
• Gaspar Cassadó (1897 - 1966):
• 6Cassadó: Suite For Solo Cello: 3. Intermezzo e Danza Finale – a Jota05:18
• Luigi Dallapiccola (1904 - 1975):
• 7Dallapiccola: Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio: 1. Ciaccona07:40
• Johann Sebastian Bach:
• 8Bach: Suite For Cello Solo No.3 In C Major, BWV 1009: 2. Allemande04:06
• Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963):
• 9Hindemith: Sonata for Solo Cello op.25, no.3: 2. Mässig schnell, gemächlich01:45
• György Ligeti (1923 - 2006):
• 10Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello: 2. Capriccio: Presto con slancio04:31
• Paul Hindemith:
• 11Hindemith: Sonata for Solo Cello op.25, no.3: 3. Langsam04:18
• Johann Sebastian Bach:
• 12Bach: Suite For Cello Solo No.3 In C Major, BWV 1009: 5. Bourrée I-II03:29
• George Crumb (b. 1929):
• 13Crumb: Sonata for Solo Cello: 3. Toccata02:40
• Total Runtime54:29

Info for Suite Cubed

How would Bach’s beloved Cello Suites have sounded to their original audience? And how can we recreate that experience, centuries later?

In his debut album for ABC Classics, Italian-born cello virtuoso Umberto Clerici brings together a rich history of music for solo cello – from the Italian baroque to Bach’s Suites, and onwards to contemporary masterpieces – to re-discover the rich combination of traditions, eras and sounds that characterise Bach’s works.

Clerici’s two ‘Suites Cubed’ keep the structure of Bach’s original Suites: a series of dances, introduced by a free-form Prelude. Bach’s music forms the backbone of these new Suites, with some of the dances represented by other compositions, creating a musical world of both diversity and synthesis.

The first Suite Cubed begins with the euphoric Prelude from Bach’s Sixth Suite, before returning to the earliest surviving work for solo cello, written in 1687 by Italian composer Giovanni Battista degli Antonii. Elsewhere Giovanni Sollima’s atmospheric Alone – a true masterwork of the contemporary repertoire – leads to the folk-inspired dances of Spaniard Gaspar Cassadó; and the courtly Langsam of Paul Hindemith gives way to Bach’s elegant Bourrées.

The result is a revelatory experience: a journey through a kaleidoscope of musical colours, highlighting the range of Bach’s own music and celebrating the rich diversity of music for solo cello through the ages, brought together by Clerici’s superlative musicianship

Umberto Clerici is principal cellist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and renowned as one of the most innovative musicians and educators of his generation. On this album he plays a 1722 Matteo Goffriller from Venice.

"Umberto Clerici’s superb musicianship is demonstrated by his virtuosic technique, attention to shaping and dynamics, his expressive, stylish and passionate interpretations. He plays a 1722 Matteo Goffriller cello from Venice, an instrument with a sonic warmth that recorded well in the acoustic of the Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Sydney. Producer and engineer Virginia Read has done a fine job and the outcome is the usual excellent production from the ABC team, including arresting cover images of Clerici imposed on three sides of a cube and some good photographic portraits." (Gwen Bennett, musictrust.com.au)

Umberto Clerici, cello

Umberto Clerici
Following from a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici is consolidating his multi-faceted and diverse skills as a conductor of increasing renown. Umberto began his cello studies with the Suzuki method at the age of five, later continuing with Mario Brunello, David Géringas and Julius Berger. Umberto received several international prizes including the Janigro Competition in Zagreb, the Rostropovich in Paris and, in 2011, the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow making him only the second Italian cellist ever being honoured in the history of the prize, after Mario Brunello.

As a cello soloist, Umberto debuted at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major cello concerto in Japan, and has since appeared with an array of renowned orchestras internationally including the Philarmonia Wien, St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic, Russian State Orchestra of Moscow, "I Pomeriggi Musicali” (Milan) and Zagreb Philharmonic. In 2003 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival and in 2012 he performed Tchaikovsky's “Rococo variations” conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Umberto has performed on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musicverein, the great Shostakovich Hall of St Petersburg and Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. After 4 years as the Principal cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino, Umberto was Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2020.

While with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Umberto continued his solo appearances with orchestras throughout Australia including the SSO (notably an interdisciplinary project centred on Strauss' Don Quixote (2017) and the Brahms’ Double Concerto (2018)), the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Youth Orchestra. Umberto also enjoys his position as the Artistic Director of the Sydney Youth Orchestra Chamber Ensemble.

As a conductor, Umberto made his debut in 2018 conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House with the Dvořák New World Symphony. Since then, he has conducted the Izmir and Istanbul State Orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Orchestra d’Aosta, Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Swan Lake, Mahler 4), Queensland Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven 6, Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’) and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Schumann’s cello concerto, Mendelssohn 4 - ‘Italian Symphony’, Schumann’s violin concerto).

In 2021 Umberto's conducting fixtures currently include the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Umberto plays cellos by Matteo Goffriller (made in 1722, Venezia) and Carlo Antonio Testore (made in 1758, Milano).

This album contains no booklet.