Peter Hall at Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA (Open
Seating, $27).
Program: Bach and the Art of the Dance
Partita I in B Flat Major, BWV 825.
Partita V in G Major, BWV 829.
Partita III in A Minor, BWV 827.
Partita IV in D Major, BWV 828.
My expectations were quite low for this concert, for
several reasons. One is I am not a fan
of the harpsichord, two is (should be obvious by now) I am not crazy about
Bach, and three, yesterday’s experience wasn’t the greatest. Yet the program held for me some surprises.
The smallish audience (perhaps around 100 people) and the
ambience of Peter Hall helped. They
provided a level of intimacy one might expect of a harpsichord
performance. The Hall was recently
renovated, with some nice restored stained glass window letting in a soft light
into the room (there was also fluorescent lighting.)
Our friend David loves Bach, so he brought along an
analysis of the five pieces that would be performed, with a lot of numbers on
meter, length of piece, metronome markings (although metronomes were not around
in Bach’s time), and duration. When I
first read it, I was dismayed at the duration of the two pieces that make up
the second half of the program: they add up to close to an hour! More on that later.
The harpsichord must have been state-of-the-art in its day. Not being a mechanical engineer, I do not
fully appreciate the genius that goes into the design of the instrument. But things look complicated enough; to
generate the different sounds the artist can make, many different contraptions
are put in place, such as choirs and keyboards.
Even so, the instrument’s range is quite limited compared to what can be
done with the modern piano. People do
play the same composition (including Bach’s Partitas) on both instruments, it
would be nice to compare how they sound.
I also will have some more to say about this.
Charlotte Mattax Moersch teaches the instrument at the
University of Illinois, and comes with great credentials per the Program (of
course she would.) My first reaction
was, too bad she chose this as her instrument.
Surprisingly, the music actually grew on me as it went on. Perhaps David’s analytical chart helped, and
I also had fun trying to learn the different characteristics of the different
dances (e.g., what makes something a sarabande), even though I learned little
afterwards.
Moersch enunciated the different lines very well, and at
times I found myself enjoying how they fit together. So it was a pity that just at the point I was
lost in the performance that she mangled her page turning and stumbled a
bit. After the first two pieces, David
told us he was very excited to hear all the repeats Bach meant to have, and how
we got the symmetry that Bach intended.
That remark kind of flew over my head (but wait, I have more to say.)
If one counts the time the pieces would total per David’s
chart, and throws in a short break of ten minutes, you’ll get a program that
lasts about two hours. A lot of music
for one sitting, probably bearable. But
the next event (lunch) would start two hours after this, and the emcee
mentioned to the audience (and evidently the performer) that we will try to
speed up the second part of the program.
Moersch did tell the audience she would try to do that, but that she
could do only so much. Turns out she
could do a lot: she skipped most (if not all) of the repeats. The 55 minutes of music got shortened to 35
or so minutes. Given what I have said so
far, this should be a welcome change.
But it isn’t. I am sure she didn’t
play at a quicker tempo (actually one of the correntes sounded slow), so not
taking the repeats made the music felt rushed.
And things also didn’t feel right, possibly due to the lack of symmetry
that David speaks of?
After my first day, I was wondering if I would get
Bach-fatigue after these two days. To my
surprise, I didn’t. I am not a convert
yet, and I probably would decline another invitation to the next Bach festival
(other than to be nice), but I certainly won’t mind a dose of this composer
every now and then. That was
suspiciously like the sentiments I expressed after watching the Ring operas in
Seattle.
In any case, we were among the many that lingered a
little bit afterwards taking in the instrument and the room. We (Yees, Wangs, and we) went to lunch at
Bethlehem Brewery. Reasonably priced
dishes that tasted quite good: I had the BBQ ribs marinated in local beer. Indeed there are lots of different cuisines
represented by the Main Street restaurants: Irish, Spanish, Thai, and what I
imagine are German.
On our drive back to New Jersey, we played Partita IV on
my iPhone, by Glenn Gould. Hearing it
played on the piano is very different from hearing it on the harpsichord. I did find myself wondering, Bach must have
written this piece with the capabilities and limitations of the harpsichord in
mind, what would he think of Gould’s performance? Ah, the early makings of a musicologist and
music historian.
A word about the Bach festival. If it is meant to showcase the Choir and the
Orchestra, they really should work harder at improving the quality of their
musicianship. If it is meant to
celebrate Bach and his compositions, they could cut down on their own programs
and substitute outside artists and groups.
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