Yesterday, the Festival of the Sound went in the morning to the Seguin Valley Golf Club a short drive out in the country. The Club's beautiful new club house banquet room makes a lovely setting for a concert of Baroque music, and the catering staff laid on a light brunch of delicious pastries and coffee for the ticket holders and musicians.
As with last year's similar event, the legendary Zimmermann's Coffee House in Leipzig was evoked during the programme. Zimmermann's was an upscale kind of venue which held evenings devoted to the new music of such composers as Bach and Telemann, among others.
The beautiful Baroque offerings included a suite for oboe, violin and continuo by Telemann, a double concerto for trumpet, oboe, and orchestra by Hertel (with harpsichordist Cynthia Hiebert filling in for the entire orchestra!), and a trio sonata for flute, oboe and bassoon by Vivaldi.
The last piece was introduced by Jim Mason (oboe), and then Jim MacKay (bassoon) added drily that they had been playing it together for fifty years. To that, Suzanne Shulman's quick rejoinder was that they would keep playing it till they got it right! (needless to add, they did get it right!)
The history of Bach's Musical Offering was then explained, and two movements were played from the Trio Sonata of that large collection: the Largo and the Allegro, which includes multiple entries of the theme propounded to Bach by Frederick the Great as a suitable fugue subject.
After a couple of other Bach selections, one on harpsichord and one on double bass (Joel Quarrington), the players then moved to the Ricercar a 6 from the Musical Offering -- Bach's answer to the royal challenge that he compose a fugue in six voices on that strange chromatic theme.
This impressive climax of musical skill and dexterity was then followed by the delightful Menuet and Badinerie from Bach's second orchestral suite, for flute and strings. I've seen Suzanne Shulman play this work half a dozen times over the years, and it never fails to delight -- not least because it seems so obvious that she is thoroughly enjoying herself in what is, after all, a very playful piece of music! (the French name "badinerie" carries roughly the same meaning as the Italian "scherzo", that is, a joke or jest.)
These morning coffee house concerts are still a new innovation at the Festival, but they are always sold out and the programmes are unfailingly interesting and intriguing, so I feel sure they will continue in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment