Article Contributed on: 3/16/2009 11:40:28 AM
The Boulder Bach Festival has once again established an outstanding program. I am referring specifically to the Friday night performance of March 13. I have been unable to attend the others this year, but I have no doubt they were just as superior. The Friday performance included the Brandenburg Concerto, Nr. 5; the Concerto in D minor for Two Violins; and the Mass in F Major, otherwise known as one of the Lutheran Masses. The guest artists at this year's Bach Festival are all nationally and internationally known musicians, three of whom live in Colorado, and we are fortunate to have heard them all.
The program opened with the Brandenburg, Nr. 5. The featured artists were Krista Feeney, violin, Christina Jennings, flute, and Jory Vinikour, harpsichord. The string orchestra was outstanding in every way, but the soloists were absolutely superb. The first movement is quite playful and opens with flute and violin solos supported by the orchestra. It is soon apparent that the harpsichord does not have usual Baroque role of continuo (providing the harmonic structure for the piece), it is a solo instrument along with the flute and violin. This is most surely one of the very first times, if not the first time, that the harpsichord held this stature. The whole first movement culminates in a huge cadenza for the harpsichord wherein Bach reveals his musical talent in an accumulation of variations on the themes of the movement. It is incredibly difficult; however, Jory Vinikour played it beautifully and seemingly effortlessly. Several members of the audience looked at each other in disbelief at its difficulty and the mastery that Vinikour displayed. Vinikour conducted from the bench and seemed quite at home doing so, as I am sure his experience has led him to be. However, in the first two or three pages, it seemed that the ensemble was having a little difficulty staying together. And if one tended to be really picky, there were few a places where the flute covered the violin. The violinist was exceptional, but her instrument just did not seem to have quite the needed volume. The second movement of this concerto grosso was absolutely lyrical and perfect. The third movement with all of its strict imitation was a typical Bach gigue, rollicking and good natured. It was wonderful to listen to.
The Concerto for Two Violins and Continuo in D minor is, most likely, one of Bach's most famous pieces. This work also provided the themes for his Concerto for Two Harpsichords, but in the harpsichord concerto he transposed the theme to C minor. This concerto opens with a fugal exposition of two contrasting themes. Both instruments travel through the keys of G minor and C minor. Then, shortly before the closing of the movement, the orchestra states the opening theme a final time. The slow movement was absolute perfection. It would have been very interesting to hear an opera by Bach, so lyrical are his themes, but he wrote no such thing. The last movement is an exciting allegro movement that returns the main theme in the key of G minor rather than D minor. Except for that, the last movement would be very close to a sonata form, but keep in mind that the sonata form was not only architectural, it was harmonic as well. Krista Feeney, and her partner, Owen Dalby, were exceptional. Though I still wish Feeney instrument had a bigger sound. But what a fine violinist she is. The tempo they took was perfect.
The Mass in F Major, which closed this concert, is another of Bach's works where he used borrowed themes from his own compositions. This practise is not as unusual as one would think. The technical term for this is "parody." In the present time, parody has come to be associated with comedy, but in the Baroque, and certainly in the Renaissance, it simply meant that the composer was basing his composition on preexisting music. There could be several reasons for this. Perhaps the composer wanted to save time by using an already composed theme; perhaps he liked the theme and wanted to develop it; or, perhaps he wanted to use a theme that everyone would recognize. This is certainly the case for the Renaissance composer Josquin. He wrote a parody Mass called "Missa pange lingua" based on the chant "Pange lingua," which is still used in the Catholic Church today. However, as stated above, Bach's Masses are parodies of his own work. But you must understand that the self-plagiarisms are not just strung together themes to make a new work. The four Lutheran Masses are supreme examples of Bach's craft.
The Mass in F Major, known as one of the Lutheran Masses, is based on Cantata BWV 102, "Are not Thine eyes, Lord, fixed on perfection." The soloists in the Mass were MeeAe Nam, soprano, Margaret Lattimore, Mezzo-soprano, and Ashraf Sewailam, bass-baritone. Timothy Krueger was the Chorus Director and Conductor. This was the first time I have heard both Sewailam (even though he received is Doctorate at CU) and Lattimore. Sewailam has an incredibly powerful voice and a very relaxed vocal production which makes everything he does seem very easy. His phrasing in the Domine Deus was fluid and expressive. I hope that he schedules more performances in Colorado. He is a performer that should not be missed. Dr. MeeAe Nam sang the Qui tollis, and once again she was captivating. She has a powerful voice for one so small, and she simply does not seem to breathe. She is always at ease and always on pitch - more than any singer I have heard for a long time. But I must say that Sewailam was always on pitch as well. The mezzo, Margaret Lattimore, was excellent as well, though in her lowest range she loses a little power, but that may be unnecessarily picky. Like the other two soloists, she demonstrated great ease of production, and there is no question that all three will be performing for many years. Timothy Krueger, the choir, and the orchestra made this a fine performance and most worthy of the reputation that the Bach Festival has earned. I would have preferred a little more rhythmic emphasis in the Kyrie.
So here is another fine performance by the Colorado Bach Festival of Boulder. They deserve their reputation. But now, if they could only spell things correctly in the program, "MeeAe Nam," for example rather than "MeeAe Namm," "affettuoso", rather than "affetuoso"...well, you get the idea.