Friday 20 February 2015 – Academy of Ancient Music at the Assembly Rooms

The Assembly Rooms were full for the first concert devoted entirely to J S Bach this year. The Academy of Ancient Music under Bojan Cicic opened with a brisk account of Suite No 3 in its original version for strings. The great benefit of having a small ensemble, only seven string players plus harpsichord, is the clarity with which musical lines emerge, drawing attention to themselves as the work progresses. There was some lovely ornamentation from the first two violins in the Air and Jane Rogers demonstrated that there are no dull lines in Bach with the beauty of the viola melodies which lift out of the ensemble. The enthusiasm which pervaded the final Gigue was intoxicating.

The Double Violin Concerto is normally heard with full orchestra but here, again, it was given with a small ensemble and benefitted greatly in terms of tempi and clarity. The intense beauty of the Largo was almost overwhelming and the headlong rush of the Allegro could not dispel its impact. Rebecca Livermore and Bojan Cicic were finely balanced in their individual approaches to the solo lines.

We needed an interval at this point and the second half did not make so great a demand on the emotions.

Flautist Rachel Brown joined the ensemble for the Triple Concerto BWV1044. The heart of this work is the rolling, fluid articulation from the harpsichord to which Nicholas Parle brought finesse and a sense of humour as well as technical aplomb. The gentle Adagio for soloists alone leads to a final Allabreve which also draws attention to the harpsichord, with most of the forward movement of the musical line dependent upon the instrument. Presumably Bach wrote the part for himself!

The evening ended with the Overture in G minor BWV1070 which is probably not by J S Bach though was for many years assumed to be so. Certainly the writing often seems less complex and the inner voices – look only at the viola part – lacks the lyrical intensity of the other works heard this evening. That is not to say that the work was not highly enjoyable; if anything it was a welcome relaxation after the first half. The Aria comes to a sudden end before the dancelike Menuetto and Capriccio.

This morning Angela Hewitt plays the Art of Fugue at the Assembly Rooms.