Composer J. S. Bach

BACH'S SIX IN WEILL HALL LINCOLN CHAMBER CONCERT

The Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society performs Bach’s set of six Brandenburg Concertos each year, and Dec. 8 this stellar ensemble performed them at Weill Hall. The resulting jubilant music making came from twenty one musicians who have independent careers but join to bring this music on tour. They clearly enjoy playing Bach, and these compositions are Bach at his finest.

They differ markedly, especially in the variety of instruments involved. The six were composed by 1721 for the Margrave of Brandenburg, and mostly languished unnoticed until 1849. The Fifth Concerto, with one of the first extended harpsichord cadenzas, is the only one to have had initial circulation after Bach’s death in 1750.

The Lincoln Center musicians often substituted for each other, except for bassist Anthony Manzo and harpsichordist Hyeyeon Park, who played for over two hours. This steady continuo helped unify the program. Many of the musicians played standing, and the players faced one another as well as the audience. Perhaps the musicians did not respond to each other with the intensity of a string quartet, but they would catch rhythmic waves rather than precise cues from one another. There was no conductor.

Throughout all six concertos the playing was excellent. The Lincoln Center group is a modern instrument ensemble with modern instrumental pitch. There are accommodations to be made in instrumentation for the 300 years since Bach wrote them, and the effect of the accommodations was varied in the Hall, from one piece to the next.

The First Concerto in F Major had the largest ensemble, with thirteen performing. This work is the only one with horns, and these are modern, valved horns, which did not exist in Bach’s time. Attacks and releases were accurate. Here also the bassoon has an independent part, as elsewhere the bassoon is part of the continuo, or bass accompaniment. Oboist Stephen Taylor added flips and turns, as it is thought Bach would have expected an oboe to do. This is a gentle, mellow piece as performed here, and was a fine beginning for a long evening of music.

The Second Concerto, also in F Major, is the most challenging for a modern instrument ensemble, as there is no easy way to fully handle the trumpet part except on the valveless instrument. Otherwise the other solo instruments, flute (recorder, in Bach’s score), oboe and violin are overshadowed. The exchanging of parts amongst these solo instruments is so intricate that some balance of volume is necessary. Everything has seemingly been tried to fix this imbalance, and to deal with the sheer technical difficulty of playing the trumpet part. Horns, clarinets and even a sopranino saxophone have been utilized.

For this performance David Washburn played a piccolo trumpet marvelously, but I felt it did not work well. Why Bach would have a recorder exchange thematic lines with a trumpet is difficult to understand. Perhaps in nearby smaller Schroeder Hall balances would have been better.

For our performance flautist Tara Helen O’Connor substituted for Bach’s recorder, as a recorder would have been difficult to hear in Weill. The intimate second movement is performed without a trumpet part, and featured Stella Chen’s elegant violin playing. The finale third movement (all the remaining concertos have three movements) brought back the trumpet and musical glory.

The Third Concerto (G Major) was for strings alone, with three each of violins, violas and cellos, with the harpsichord and a violone. There is scholarly discussion about what Bach wanted for a “violone,” and some feel that three different instruments are needed in the Brandenburgs. However, the modern bass played by Mr. Manzo provided a sensitive accompaniment for all the concertos throughout the evening. Weill Hall sounded resonant and alive, and, for a hall this size, modern steel strings rather than gut are perhaps the best choice.

I had thought the final movement of this Third Concerto (there are only two) was the least interesting of the Brandenburg movements, but the Lincoln rendition was a revelation. Here the wave movement of the music was palpable, as the musicians threw the simple melody about, and we could hear it toss and tumble.

The musically complex Fourth Concerto, also in G Major, substituted two flutes for recorders. The violin line that is the third soloist (violinist Richard Lin) had to weave with the flutes in intricate counterpoint, and all the parts could be plainly heard. In the second movement the violin drew back, and there were delicate exchanges between the two flutes, wonderfully played by Demarre McGill and Ms. O’Connor. The finale is long (244 bars) in Bach’s finest fugal style, and the violin’s projection surged to the front again with rapid sixteenth note passages that were played with precision.

The Fifth Concerto, in D, was a mixed success. The slow middle movement, labeled by Bach “affettuoso”, was superb, with Ms. McGill and violinist Ani Kavafian playing in sensitive partnership. However, in the first movement’s extended harpsichord cadenza the instrument was too faint to hear. The audience was very appreciative of Ms. Park’s playing, but her harpsichord did not have the visceral impact it needed. It has been said that in this movement the harpsichord is not merely an equal to the other solo instruments, but hijacks the piece, and the sound did not carry.

The B-Flat Major Sixth Concerto, like the Third, has only strings, and here two cellos (Timothy Eddy and Mihai Marica) replaced the viola da gambas called for by Bach, joining with cellist Keith Robinson. This substitution made for a stronger and more resonant sound and a greater contrast with the middle movement, where the middle string instruments are silent. The wonderful element here and a high point of the evening for me was the musical interplay between violists Lawrence Dutton and Matthew Lipman, an infectious source of joy and exuberance. The middle section, where the violas constantly exchange motives, was hypnotic.

The playing in the finale was another stirring string dance, the standing musicians ebbing and flowing along with the melodic lines.