Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra (Seat
T103, $72).
Program – The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival
Mass in B minor, BWV 232 by J. S. Bach (1685-1750).
Soloists
Dorothea Roschmann, soprano; Anne Sofie von Otter, Mezzo-Soprano;
Steve Davislim, Tenor; Eric Owens, Bass-Baritone.
Except for lovers of Bach’s music, I suspect most people
who have heard about this work have never heard it, certainly not in its
entirety. That is the case with Anne and
me. We actually had a chance to listen
to it at last year’s Bach Festival in Bethlehem, PA, but decided to skip it,
having had more than our fill of Bach after a day and a half. When this opportunity came along, we decided
to give it a try.
While overall I enjoyed the two hour experience, I feel
comfortable only making a few general observations.
First, a few comments about the work itself (mostly taken
from the Program Notes.) This was as
much compiled as it was composed by Bach during the last decade of his
life. Many of the material was used
before. However, the complete
performance of this Mass didn’t take place until 109 years after his death, in
1859. The U.S. premiere was performed by
the Bach Choir of Bethlehem in 1900, and this work is performed every year
during the aforementioned Bach Festival.
The structure is a standard I. Kyrie and Gloria, II. Symbolum Nicenum
(Credo), III. Sanctus; and IV. Osanna, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.
Given the performance norms of Bach’s day, today’s
orchestra and choir were probably much larger than what Bach intended. They were nonetheless reduced size ensembles,
and often only parts of the sections would play. The choir members numbered about 70, and
sounded surprisingly weak compared to what I came to expect of them; this was
especially true for the tenors – Anne thought she counted only seven of them.
There were only a few arias for the soloists (sometimes
they sang duets). They all did very
well. It is interesting three of the
four are from overseas (German, Swedish, and Australian.) Eric Owens is the American, and we heard him
before as Alberich in a couple of the Ring operas. His voice was the weakest of the bunch. Every time there was a solo or a duet, there
would be one or two solo instruments that accompany the singing (violin, oboe d’Amore,
flute, cello); the effect was very pleasant.
I walked away just appreciating how polished the
performance was. Since all lyrics got
repeated a lot, I should be forgiven to think I know quite a bit of Latin by
the time the performance ended.
In the Playbill’s Lead Story Alan Gilbert says “I am not
a Bach specialist, but I will approach the music with sincerity as a musician.” I am not a Bach aficionado, but I decided to
try to enjoy it as a listener. And I
found it enjoyable.
I am now somewhat inclined to head out to Bethlehem in
May to listen to how the “originals” did it.
The roster for the orchestra’s bass section looked different
from how I remembered it. Later it was
confirmed to me that there had been some personnel changes. Also, we tried to get dinner at China Fun but
it was closed (supposedly only for the day).
We are running out of places to eat here. We found out to our mild surprise that the Amber
across the street is a Japanese/Asian restaurant, and we had a quick bite
there.
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