Alisa Weilerstein ~ FRAGMENTS 2

Above, Alisa Weilerstein/FRAGMENTS 2 ~ performance photo by Fadi Kheir

~ Author: Shoshana Klein

Tuesday January 21st, 2025 – This evening at Zankel Hall, Alisa Weilerstein’s’ Fragments project continued with its the second installation. You may remember the first one, last April.

Like last time, there was no program given until the end – a practice I still find interesting, though slightly frustrating. I had a bit of a conclusion that the ideal listener either knows the Bach suites by heart, or doesn’t know them at all; someone like me (knowing them but certainly not well versed on the particular movements, etc) ends up a little stuck on which is which and where we are. 

For the staging, the same light boxes that were set up for the first installment are set up spread around the stage rather than in a circle around the cellist like they were last time. She entered in full darkness – though during that moment, someone’s phone went off and said clearly “calling emergency services” and everyone laughed, which was a fun communal moment.

This setting struck me as more theatrical than the last – it started with a bang and bright lights, and Weilerstein was wearing fishnets, a bright fuchsia short dress, and dramatic stage makeup with her hair curled and all over the place. It seemed to evoke a sort of dramatization and maybe a teenage emotionality.

The way that she played the Bach suite movements were sweeping, very light even though much of the suite is in minor. Her playing of the fast passages is very elegant – bringing out the vocal and conversational qualities of these multi-line pieces written for one instrument.

Performance photo by Fadi Kheir

For the first couple movements there were really smooth transitions and stark lighting changes. The new pieces were lit with green and the Bach was a warmer white/yellow. I wondered if it would continue like that the whole time with the lighting just indicating whether or not we were hearing a new piece, but as it went on the changes became less stark, and the movements had different types of lighting. Maybe adding to this, or reflected by it, particularly in the beginning of the set, the Bach had a more veiled angstyness while the newer pieces had more brash emotionality in the forefront, as if the newer compositions were unearthing the meanings of the Bach and saying them more plainly.

One standout movement near the end had only pizzicati and required Weilerstein to sing along with her playing. It was simple sounding and also grounding, particularly because this person who is at the highest levels of cello playing was singing like a normal person. Not to say it was bad, it just humanized her in a way that brought reality back in a really sweet way.

~ Shoshana Klein