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21-23 February 2013<\/span><\/p>\n Any concerns that may have been raised recently about relationships between performers and their audience obviously do not apply to the Bath Bach Fest<\/em>. This all too brief – I would say intimate – festival should be an example to all of how easily soloists can relate to their audience while maintaining the highest musical standards.<\/p>\n It opened with flair at St Mary\u2019s, Bathwick, where we heard Handel\u2019s Acis and Galatea<\/em><\/span> in the secure hands of Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players<\/span>. Nicholas Mulroy was a late substitute for Jeremy Ovenden as Acis, but it was clear from the fun he was having and his ability to sing without the score that he was very familiar with the work. This became even more obvious with Love sounds th\u2019 alarm<\/em> echoing around the church. Mhairi Lawson was no shrinking violet as Galatea, her warm tone filling the building and bringing a welcome petulance to Hush you pretty warbling choirs<\/em> where the recorder player was quite obviously not going to give up. Ashley Riches turned Polyphemus into a somewhat more comic character than is possibly in the score, playing off the line to good effect, but singing so convincingly he was easily forgiven.<\/p>\n The performance zipped along at a lightning pace until the death of Acis when comedy gently gave way to pathos and a most moving ending. The five singers took all the chorus parts as well, exposing Handel\u2019s choral writing and showing just how good it is. An enthusiastic reception was well deserved on a very cold night.<\/p>\n The next lunchtime brought harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani<\/span> to the Guildhall with a programme of French and German baroque works, opening with a very intense Toccata in E minor by Matthias Weckmann. The tension relaxed slightly for eight Pieces de clavecin<\/em> by Rameau, ranging from the naivety of Les Niais de Sologne <\/em>to the glorious fantasy rondo of Les Cyclopes. <\/em><\/p>\n Before the CPE Bach Mahan spoke to us of his love of the composer and his importance to the history of music in that he was the break-away from the Bach clan. The Wurttemberg Sonata No6 in B Minor is revelatory in its implications, hinting at Beethoven\u2019s invention far more than looking back to the solidity of his father or brothers\u2019 compositions. The opening Moderato<\/em> is wayward in its approach and its logic is difficult to follow though its emotional narrative is clear. If the Adagio<\/em> is more conventional there are chordal progressions that hint far into the 19th<\/sup> century and beyond.<\/p>\n The concert ended with the performers own version of JS Bach\u2019s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue BWV903. <\/em>The rendition uses the central chordal sequence as a basis for improvisation which was telling and convincing throughout. A brief encore left us wanting more.<\/p>\n The evening recital in the Assembly Rooms was introduced by Sara Mohr-Pietsch, familiar to most of the audience from Radio3. She was in conversation with Pavlo Beznosiuk, violinist and director of the Academy of Ancient Music<\/span>, who were to play Bach\u2019s Four Suites BWV 1066-69. Their conversation\u00a0proved to be enlightening as it did not simply regurgitate the programme notes but introduced each suite and played some musical examples to help us to listen. Not only did this encourage a much closer\u00a0attention to the works but also a more personal response as we came to know the musicians themselves somewhat better. This was particularly true of the Third Suite with its familiar Air. <\/em>Before it was played we heard part of it without the top line to enable us to experience the superb harmony which supports it. Consequently, in performance, it was all too clear that this is not a solo violin piece, with additions, but a finely crafted orchestral movement in which all the voices count. The trumpets had joined the ensemble for the opening and closing suites, cutting through admirably, though there had been times earlier when the Assembly Rooms\u2019 acoustic had defeated the strings who lost their edge and clarity. This was particularly unfortunate for Rachel Brown whose flute playing for the Second Suite was sensitive but often lost amid the general melos.<\/p>\n If the first two days had been good the final day brought unexpected delights. Colin Carr\u2019s<\/span> performance of three of Bach\u2019s Cello Suites was outstanding whichever way you looked at it. He spoke with gentle humour and simplicity before playing, noting that the only reason he was with us in the Guildhall was because he had nothing better to do<\/em>. The quality of his approach belied this. Only a performer who has Bach at his heart can play with this authority. After giving us the Second, Third and Sixth Suites, he returned for an encore to play the Sarabande <\/em>from the Fifth Suite. This seemed to tie the whole performance together, for it had been the Sarabandes <\/em>which seemed to hold the key to his interpretation. In the Second Suite the endless yearning and melancholy of the Sarabande<\/em> seemed to run into eternity, while the expansive, relaxed hope of that in the Third Suite turned us away from despair. In the Sixth Suite there is an air of resignation, which is not depressive but which lacks the naive joy of the Third. The encore drew all these threads together with its introspection and lightness of touch, which at times drifts into nothingness. It was masterly throughout and we could have gone on listening long into the afternoon.<\/p>\n The Abbey is a large venue by comparison to those we had been in for the earlier performances, but the promise of La Serenissima<\/span><\/em> and Vivaldi was enough to fill it. As in earlier events, this was introduced from the stage, Adrian Chandler<\/span> being our guide to the evening, as well as playing lead violin and directing the ensemble.<\/p>\n They opened with an anonymous song from Venice c 1730, a gondolier\u00a0praising the quality of his \u2013 boat! Two brisk and cheerful Sinfonia<\/em> by Albinoni led to a darker and technically stunning performance of Vivaldi\u2019s Concerto in E minor RV278. Anybody doubting Vivaldi\u2019s wide ranging ability only need hear this in comparison to the more familiar Four Seasons<\/em> to realise the composer\u2019s versatility. Mhairi Lawson returned to sing two arias, the first from L\u2019Olimpiade <\/em>and the second from Motezuma.<\/em> Both were written from castrati but one could forgive the imposition of a soprano voice when it is as well focussed as this. Where it had sounded good in St Mary\u2019s it amply filled the spaces of the Abbey. In the Motezuma<\/em> aria she was joined by trumpeter Simon Munday, who stood alongside her. This seemed somewhat daunting given that, in the opera house, the trumpet would have been far below in the pit, but it did not seem to affect the outcome, which was never really in doubt.<\/p>\n After a brief pause, we came to the Four Seasons<\/em>. How good to hear them complete and played as well as this, together with the sonnets which Vivaldi wrote to accompany them. They help to make sense of the storms in summer and the pastoral scenes in autumn. On such a very cold February night, Winter<\/em> was only too appropriate, but the warmth of the performance and the warmth of the reception left all making their way into the freezing night with a glow. Roll on next year! BH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 21-23 February 2013 Any concerns that may have been raised recently about relationships between performers and their audience obviously do not apply to the Bath Bach Fest. This all too brief – I would say intimate – festival should … Continue reading <\/p>\n
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