JS Bach: (selection from) The Musical Offering JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in Bb major BWV 1051 WF Bach: Adagio and Fugue F.65 JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major BWV 1048
Of composers, the nickname ‘Papa’ is most popularly associated with
Haydn; a beloved father figure to other musicians during his lifetime as
well as epoch-forming in his development of the symphony and the string
quartet. But JS Bach before him could also lay claim to that moniker –
quite literally, as he fathered an entire dynasty of composers and
musicians. The far-reaching impact of the ‘House of Bach’ upon German
baroque music and beyond has yet to be fully appreciated by wider
audiences. But this year’s Brecon Baroque Festival – the ninth since its
establishment in 2007 by international violinist extraordinaire and
Brecon local, Rachel Podger – did its vigorous best to spark enthusiasm
in that direction, taking its cue from the birth tercentenary of the
most significant and innovative of JS’ sons: Carl Phillip Emmanuel (1714-1788).
Rachel Podger. Photo Courtesy of Jonas Sacks
In his later years, the increasingly unfashionable JS had come to be
known – albeit with respect – as ‘Old Sebastian’ or ‘Old Bach’. And it
was in that spirit of appreciation for a venerable but slightly fusty
older figure that CPE’s then employer, Frederick the Great, invited his
court musician’s father to attend him at Potsdam in 1747. The occasion
has become the stuff of legend, for it led to the composition, three
years before his death, of one of JS Bach’s most extraordinary feats of
contrapuntal genius, the Musikalisches Opfer or ‘Musical
Offering’. And it was this high baroque pinnacle of intellectual delight
that Podger’s ensemble, Brecon Baroque, performed with impressive
clarity and poise in the first half of their concert at Theatr
Brecheiniog on October 25.
The Musical Offering is actually a collection of pieces.
Here we heard artfully persuasive renditions of the most ‘chunky’, as
Podger put it, in various captivating instrumental combinations,
comprising five of the ten canons, together with the two ricercars and
the four-movement trio sonata. The latter piece is scored for flute –
the instrument Frederick played – violin and basso continuo (cello and
harpsichord), but Bach gave the rest no fixed instrumentation, nor any
specific order for performance, and the story of the work’s genesis is
fascinating:
Frederick had invited JS primarily in order to test the composer’s
mastery of improvisation; a skill all musicians were expected to
possess, but for which Bach was famous. The monarch was determined to
show off his collection of new (and new-fangled) Gottfried Silbermann
fortepianos, and challenged Bach to create a three-part fugue on a
particularly cussed theme he had provided, the so-called King’s Theme.
When Bach duly obliged, Frederick upped the ante to six parts; a test in
quite another league, and which would surely have landed any other
composer but Bach senior in ‘another fine mess’. However, JS calmly took
the challenge away to work on, and answered it emphatically with his
astonishing 6-part Ricercar, which closed the half here in Brecon in a
sonically rich combination of flute, oboe and viola, with viola da gamba
joining cello and harpsichord.*
Clearly (and despite a brief miscommunication between Podger and
cellist at one point), the musicians were comfortably at home with
Bach’s dense polyphony, and they navigated it with aplomb for their
appreciative audience. My only wish was to have heard the Offering
in its entirety, ideally in an acoustic more beguiling for this
repertoire (oh for a late night, candle-lit performance in Brecon
Cathedral!). However, judging by the cheers which greeted the bouncier,
more crowd-pleasing works in the programme, I suspect that Podger –
clearly a generous and inspirational leader – has a keen sense for
gauging her Brecon audience.
The second half was flanked by breezy performances of JS Bach’s
Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 6 and 3 – less demanding of listener
concentration, and better suited to Brecheiniog’s dryer sound in their
ebullient, bright and dancy swish. For me, however, the middle item was
not only more rare, but more alluringly played: the Adagio and Fugue
F.65, by Bach’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann; arguably the most
underachieving of his talented offspring. The work forms part of a
sometime Symphony in D, and it was performed as if with half an eye on
the sadness of such a gifted composer experiencing so troubled a life
and impoverished a death as did WF Bach. The Adagio had a deeply felt,
elegiac quality, whilst the mischievous Fugue which followed brimmed
with a syncopated wit and invention pre-echoing no less a figure than
Mozart.**
* Wholly beside the point, but I can’t resist drawing attention to Anton Webern’s exquisite Klangfarbenmelodie orchestration of the 6-part Ricercar, published 1935 [Bach Fuge (Ricercata, no. 2 a 6 voci) aus dem Musikalischen Opfer für Orchester gesetzt]. Highly recommended if you don’t know it.
** As it happens, Mozart transcribed another of WF Bach’s fugues –
that in F minor from the Eight Fugues for harpsichord, F.31 – to form
the 6th and final fugue to his Preludes and Fugues for String Trio, K.
404a.
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