BACH has been played in salons . . . But in saloons?Stay tuned tomorrow, when Matt Haimovitz plays all six unaccompanied Bach suites at Joe’s Pub.
The lounge is a far cry from Carnegie Hall, but the ponytailed cellist says that’s for the better.
“This is intimate music, so taking it out of a 3,000-seat concert hall and playing it in a room that seats 150 people isn’t much of a stretch.
“Besides,” he adds, “I’ll bet Bach loved beer.”
Haimovitz has quite a handle on Bach. The former child prodigy – an Israeli native raised in the San Francisco area – debuted at 15 with the Israel Philharmonic and grew up listening to the legendary Pablo Casals recordings of Bach’s suites. Years later, Casals’ widow loaned Haimovitz one of the master’s cellos to play them on.
And while he’s gone on to all kinds of things – like accompanying the Mark Morris Dance Group and jamming with jazz bassist Rob Wasserman – Haimovitz always seems to come back to Bach. He and his wife, composer Luna Pearl Woolf, just launched a record label with his recordings of the suites, performed in an old church.
He’s played Bach in kibbutzes and coffeehouses, castles and a cow barn – even an airport in the British West Indies.
“They thought I was trying to smuggle something in my cello case,” the 30-year-old recalls. So he played Bach for them, too.
“I do love to play just about anywhere people will listen,” he says. “As long as they let me make music honestly, I don’t care where I play.”
Matt Haimovitz plays Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., Sunday at 5 p.m. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. For tickets ($15, plus a two-drink minimum) call TeleCharge, (212) 239-6200.