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Cellist Steven Isserlis celebrates simplicity, honesty and humor

Among world-class cellists, Steven Isserlis may be the only one ever to interview his instrument.
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September 18, 2014

Among world-class cellists, Steven Isserlis may be the only one ever to interview his instrument. On a website for young cellists, he asked his 260-year-old cello to list one of the best things about traveling. His cello responds, “Getting an extra seat so that Mr. Isserlis can sit in the airplane and not in the hold.”

Isserlis, appointed a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1998, can be unexpectedly mischievous. When asked by phone during an interview from his home in London whether he is a practicing Jew, Isserlis said, “I practice my cello, and I’m Jewish, so I’m a practicing Jew.” Then he added, “I was always very pleased the Marx Brothers were Jewish, because I love them.”

When the cellist visits Los Angeles in October, he hopes to reunite with Harpo’s son, Bill Marx, an old friend. Isserlis fans, however, can sit in on his master class at the Colburn School’s Mayman Hall on Oct. 6, and hear him when he joins conductor Douglas Boyd and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at the Alex Theater in Glendale on Oct. 18, and again at UCLA’s Royce Hall the following evening, performing Haydn’s joyful Cello Concerto No. 2 in D. 

“The Haydn concerto is almost childlike,” Isserlis, 55, said. “It’s simple and innocent, and full of humor and elegance, too.” 

Simplicity, natural expressivity and honesty are distinguishing characteristics of Isserlis’ playing on two new Hyperion recordings. The first is a major life-affirming traversal of Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas, with Robert Levin on fortepiano. In the two early works, Isserlis and Levin capture Beethoven’s rustic, good-humored, earthy quality, and, in the three later masterpieces, his more mercurial and soulful moods. 

The second release, pianist Sam Haywood’s charming tribute to the cellist’s grandfather, “Julius Isserlis: Piano Music,” represents a unique document of music from a bygone era, and it’s also a family affair. Isserlis’ older sister, Annette Isserlis, a professional violist, produced the recording, and his other sister, Rachel Isserlis, a professional violinist, wrote the booklet notes. He performs his grandfather’s Ballade in A minor for cello and piano with Haywood, a family friend. 

“My grandfather was a pianist and composer who was famous in his day,” said Isserlis, who was 9 when Julius died. “He studied composition with Sergei Taneyev, who taught Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, and he wrote some beautiful romantic, gentle music. It’s not innovative; it’s very Russian.”

Music, Isserlis said, saved his family. A Russian Jew, his grandfather was among a group of musicians and their families allowed by Vladimir Lenin to tour abroad, displaying the Soviet Union’s cultural prowess. But none of them returned. Julius Isserlis ended up in Vienna. While performing in England in 1938, however, the Anschluss took place, and the Isserlis family remained there. 

The cellist, who is distantly related to Mendelssohn, said he once thought of becoming a rabbi. But being part of a family who performed chamber music together at home — his father was an amateur violinist; his mother, a pianist — encouraged a career in music.

Steven Isserlis went on to study at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, making his first record at age 25. But his concert engagement calendar didn’t begin to fill up until he was in his 30s.

“One breakthrough came when I met violinist Joshua Bell,” he said. “Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen also recommended me. And then there was ‘The Protecting Veil.’ That recording also helped.”

“The Protecting Veil,” for cello and strings, an other-worldly score written for Isserlis in 1989 by British composer John Tavener, a friend who died last November, became an international best seller in the early 1990s.

Many justly acclaimed recordings followed, including Isserlis’ radiant and touching readings of Elgar’s autumnal Cello Concerto, Strauss’ “Don Quixote” and Schumann’s Cello Concerto. All of them showcased an intimate vocal quality in the cellist’s playing, rich in character, empathy and wit.

Recent discs have also been celebrated, especially Isserlis’ recording of Bach’s six glorious cello suites, a Mount Everest of the instrument’s repertoire. Isserlis said he played on the great cellist Emanuel Feuermann’s 1730 Stradavarius for five of the suites and, as he put it, “my old Guadagnini” for Suite No. 5. 

After two years of being prodded to play the Bach suites in public, Isserlis reluctantly agreed. “I get so nervous. It’s the most perfect music in the world, and I find it very scary. I love it too much, this music.”

The cellist attributes much of his lifelong success to great teachers, including Jane Cowan, who studied with Feuermann. 

“She was holistic,” Isserlis said. “Music was part of life. She made me feel as a little boy that I was friends with the great composers. She also made me love playing the cello — made me feel relaxed. She always told me it was easy, and I believed her.”

Cowan’s influence can be felt in the two children’s books about composers Isserlis wrote — “Why Beethoven Threw the Stew” (2001) and “Why Handel Waggled His Wig” (2006). “I wanted my son to know something about them,” he said, “and pass on what my teacher gave me, this love of great composers.”

Isserlis attempts to get closer to such composers through historically informed performances, but realizes there are limits. 

“All you can do is look at the score and see what it tells you,” he said. “Nobody can claim to re-create exactly how players played then. There’s the violinist who gave the first performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. He played a piece of his own between the first and second movements with his violin upside down. I don’t think we want to re-create that, though it’s amusing to read about.”

Cellist Steven Isserlis will perform Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with Douglas Boyd conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Oct. 18, and at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Oct. 19.

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