Bach Festival Day 1, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Greg Funfgeld, conductor. May 4, 2012.

Events attended (all at Lehigh University):

Distinguished Scholar Lecture – Nicholas Kenyon: Bach in the 21^st Century, Black Box Theatre, Zoellner Arts Center (free).

Bach Cantatas, Packer Memorial Church (Lower Transept Seat E14, $27).

Dinner and Discussion – Larry Lipkis ($35).

Bach Cantatas, Packer Memorial Church (Lower Transept Seat E14, $27).

Soloists:

Agnes Zsiqovics, soprano; Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano; Daniel Taylor, countertenor; Benjamin Butterfield, tenor; William Sharp, baritone; and Daniel Lichti, bass.

Our friends David and Vivien have been going to this annual event every year since 1999.  They had mentioned this event to us a couple of years ago, but we had never been able to make it until this year.

The Bach Choir of Bethlehem claims a heritage extending to the colonial period, and was the choir that introduced Bach’s Mass in B minor to the United States.  Indeed they now perform this work every year (afternoon of second day), so claims David and Vivien.  We didn’t get tickets for this concert for a couple of reasons: we needed to be back home Friday reasonably early to prepare for a Sunday event, and we were afraid that we would be “Bached out” by the time we get to this program.  Turns out we were okay with the Sunday preparation, and, surprisingly, we didn’t get Bached out, either – although I don’t regret not having gone to that concert either.

Bethlehem is also an interesting city.  While we are only a short 80 or so minutes away, and must have driven past it on US78 many times, this was actually the first time we visited.  Indeed we went to Bethlehem, Israel last fall, before we visited this town.  It was first settled by Moravians who came because of persecution back home, and Moravian College is part of that heritage (even though the college is now secular).  The Bethlehem Hotel claims to be the oldest hotel in the USA, and indeed many buildings claim to go back to around 1740.  Despite the demise of its once strong steel industry, the town, or at least the parts of town we saw, seems to be holding its own.

The talk by Nicholas Kenyon traced how Bach has been interpreted differently through the ages, and he used quite a few sound tracks to prove his point.  I am sure interpretation of Bach evolves.   I still remember when I was a student reporter during a Hong Kong Music Festival, I covered a competition where the judge would disqualify any performer who would interpret Bach in an ”erroneous” (i.e., romantic) manner. That was more than 40 years ago; things seem quite a bit different today.  However, one wonders if a different point can be made if one uses different sounds tracks from the different eras.

The choir is actually quite large at about 80 singers (their website says 100).  The orchestra is quite large also, with 6 first and 6 second violins, for instance.  Most interestingly, there are four oboes, which seem too many for this orchestra.  Unfortunately, large doesn’t always equal good.  There were many more women than men in the choir, and the weakness of the male voices was evident.  Interestingly, except for the basses, all the string players are women.

A total of five cantatas were performed: 79 – Gott der Herr ist Sonn un Schild, 170 – Vergnugte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, 4 – Christ lag in Todesbanden, 80 – Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, and 21 – Ich hatte viel Bekummernis.  The Program for the Festival goes into considerable detail about them, and the dinner speaker also gave some pointers on what one should listen for (he covered only a limited number of themes.)  We have a mixture of arias, recitatives, and chorales.  No. 170 was all solos by the countertenor Daniel Taylor.  There was extensive use of a solo oboe and basso continuo, where the cello figured prominently.

While there are some high points in the performances, most of the time I thought they were just mediocre.  With Bach, “architecture” (harmony, counterpoint, etc.) is very important, and I thought on many occasions the lines were blurred, entrances blundered, and balance butchered.

I don’t know if this choir is the acknowledged Bach organization, and I feverishly hope not.  At dinner we met some people who have been attending these concerts for decades.  Some fly in every year, some even move to the area so they could come to these and other Bach concerts.  I can’t begin to fathom why.  I am quite sure Bach deserves a better Bach choir.

The choir has been under the direction of Greg Funfgeld since 1983, and no doubt has improved tremendously over the years, as the Program hints (I shudder to think what it was like in 1983.)  On the other hand, could the sloppiness and staleness be in part due to lack of new ideas?