Austere, stark, private; the Bach solo cello suites aren’t usually thought of as religious works. Bach wrote them, probably, as exercises for domestic use. They’re based on dance forms. And although for centuries few cellists paid them serious attention, these days everybody plays them – not least the illustrious Steven Isserlis, who was doing so, selectively, last month in North London’s Jewish arts centre, JW3.
It was a words-and-music music programme that included readings from his own book on the cello suites. And in the circumstances, it was interesting that Isserlis made it a platform for a controversial argument the book puts forward: that the suites, if played in order, tell the story of the life of Jesus.
