United States Various: Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92NY Center for Culture & Arts, New York, 3.12.2024; Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, New York, 8.12.2024. (ES-S)
Baroque music, especially when performed on period instruments, is a rare gem in New York’s diverse musical soundscape. The chance to experience two events devoted entirely to the pre-Classical repertoire of the eighteenth century within a single week felt like an exceptional treat.
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus) stands among the world’s leading period-instrument ensembles, celebrated for its vibrant and historically informed performances. Founded in 1982 in East Berlin, the ensemble quickly rose to international prominence, bolstered by its exclusive recording contract with Harmonia Mundi. Acclaimed for its innovative programming, research-driven interpretations and meticulous attention to historical detail, Akamus continues to set the standard in early music performance.
The ensemble made its debut at the 92nd Street Y as part of the esteemed Marshall Weinberg Classical Music Season. On this occasion, Akamus offered a program of German Baroque works, alternating purely orchestral pieces by Georg Philipp Telemann with compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach that feature solo instruments.
The evening began with the Orchestral Suite No.1 in G minor by Johann Bernhard Bach (1676-1749), a second cousin of J. S. Bach. One of the composer’s four surviving orchestral suites, the work likely dates from before 1730. Performed by three violins, viola, cello, double bass and harpsichord, it served as an excellent introduction to the program, highlighting the period’s characteristic blend of French dances – graceful in melody and rich in rhythmic vitality – with the contrapuntal traditions of German music. At the same time, it helped listeners adjust their expectations for what was to follow: the absence of vibrato in the string instruments, which allowed the individual lines of counterpoint to emerge more distinctly; and the sharper, more percussive attacks on the harpsichord, providing a rhythmic pulse that aligned more closely with the dance movements typical of Baroque music, in contrast to the smoother sound of a modern piano.
Telemann and J. S. Bach were contemporaries who held a mutual respect for each other’s work. The slightly younger Bach was influenced by the more cosmopolitan Telemann, particularly in the areas of form and orchestration. Telemann, with his broader exposure to European musical styles – having lived in cities like Hamburg, where he had access to both French and Italian traditions – brought a distinctive versatility to his compositions. This nuanced distinction – Telemann’s adaptability contrasted with Bach’s more intricate counterpoint combined with his drive for innovation – was beautifully showcased during the Akamus concert.
Telemann’s rarely performed Overture-Suite Burlesque de Quixotte, an early foray into programmatic music, emerged as the evening’s most delightful surprise. Performed with zest by the ensemble, led by violinist Yves Ytier (who thoughtfully announced each of the eight vignettes’ evocative titles), the music depicted scenes from Cervantes’s epic novel and revealed Telemann’s remarkable talent for storytelling. Quixote’s awakening, portrayed in a bleary-eyed minuet, contrasted sharply with the bold octave leaps that evoked his blind attacks on the windmills he mistook for ruthless giants. The Don’s wistful sighs for his beloved Dulcinea and Sancho Panza being tossed into the air by pranksters were vividly portrayed, as was the relaxed gallop of Rosinante and the back-and-forth trot of Sancho Panza’s donkey. From the overture, whose construction clearly revealed the primary French influence, to the final ‘Le couché de Quixotte’ – which, instead of serving as a calmer ending, sped along with lofty dreams of the next escapade – it was a lively, effervescent performance, brimming with colorful orchestral effects and rich irony. Ultimately, the term ‘burlesque’ in the work’s title originates from the Italian word burla, meaning joke, ridicule or mockery.
The two Bach concertos are perhaps known best in their harpsichord versions. BWV 1056R, for instance, was reconstructed from Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto No.5 in F minor (there is also a violin version, BWV 1056a). Interestingly, the middle movement bears a strong resemblance to the opening Andante of a Telemann flute concerto, although the chronology remains uncertain. The concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060R, is derived from the score of Bach’s Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C minor BWV 1060.
The soloists in the latter – Xenia Löffler on oboe and Georg Kallweit, one of the ensemble’s concertmasters, on violin – brought out the intricate interplay between the instruments in the two Allegros that frame the concerto. The middle section, lyrical and introspective, offered a lovely contrast. The understanding between the soloists and the ensemble reflected the unanimity of thought and action cultivated through countless hours of playing together. Löffler also highlighted the unique sound of the Baroque instrument in her rendition of the Bach Oboe Concerto: its less uniform tone, at times more focused, piercing and attention-grabbing, and at others softer and more delicate, in contrast to the modern oboe.
Baroque musical masters, much like the painters and sculptors of their time, were more devoted to refining and reinterpreting ideas than the ‘uniqueness’ of their output. Recycling musical material and patterns was not just accepted, it was a common practice. This was evident in the program of another Baroque concert several days later at Alice Tully Hall. J. S. Bach, for instance, not only adapted concertos to suit the availability of soloists, but repurposed material across different works and genres. The ‘Sinfonias’ – introductory instrumental movements – from two Leipzig cantatas, Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal and Ich habe meine Zuversicht, performed with precision and energy by musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, are today better recognized as movements from the Harpsichord Concerto in D minor (BWV 1052), itself derived from an earlier, lost concerto predating the cantatas. This wasn’t the only example of such transformation: Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748), another Bach cousin, was represented by his organ transcription of Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in B minor, a faithful reimagining that translated the original’s virtuosity into the organ’s distinctive idiom.
The afternoon concert at Alice Tully Hall offered a rare opportunity to appreciate the distinctive qualities of the 1975 Orgelbau Kuhn-built organ, a unique instrument with 64 stops across four manuals and the pedal, capable of blending subtle delicacy with bold, resonant power.
The program, titled ‘Baroque Organ’ and showcasing the artistry of Paolo Bordignon – organist and choirmaster at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan – was devoted to Italian or Italian-influenced works, performed with a chamber ensemble of flexible size and instrumentation. The only exception was a solo piece, ‘Noël, grand jeu et duo’, a Christmas carol by the French composer Louis-Claude Daquin in which a simple folk melody is transformed through increasingly ‘embroidered’ variations, enriched by diverse colors and rhythms. Bordignon, a distinguished harpsichordist as well as organist, played it with finesse and sensitivity.
The operatic character of Italian Baroque music was evident in the first work: three excerpts from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Arie con Tromba Sola. The excellent oboist James Austin Smith, though only partially able to replace the richness of nuance a soprano voice can offer, still impressed with his mellifluous interpretation. His ability to suggest the whispering undulation of the river’s waves in the lovely ‘Si riscaldi il Tibro’ (‘Let the Tiber warm’) was particularly evocative. The military, heroic character of ‘Si suoni la tromba’ (‘Let the trumpet sound’) came through in the piercing battlefield calls of David Washburn’s trumpet. He navigated the wide leaps demanded by the score in the dance-like ‘Con voce festiva’ (‘With festive voice’) with fearless accuracy, and his dialogues with the oboe, sustained by the organ, were wonderfully balanced throughout.
Telemann’s Trio Sonata in G minor from his Essercizi musici collection was the performance’s only example of the popular trio format of the time, though the organ seemed somewhat underexposed. Oboist James Austin Smith and violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky conversed with great ease, exchanging musical snippets that were repeatedly echoed between the two instruments. Despite the overall merriness, the opening Mesto conveyed a sense of melancholy, while the winding modulations in the Andante-Largo were full of charm.
Biber’s Rosary Sonata No.1, ‘Annunciation’, the earliest work on the program, offered another violinist, Benjamin Beilman, the opportunity to display his impressive technique while Bordignon and cellist Mihai Marica faithfully fulfilled the continuo role. Beilman emphasized the improvisatory character of the ‘Praeludium’, carrying this spontaneous quality into the following theme with variations, a form traditionally bound by stricter rules.
The remainder of the program featured slightly larger forces. Handel’s Organ Concerto in A major, with its more complex, joyful polyphony, also includes a middle section entitled ‘Organo ad libitum’ that allowed Bordignon to exercise interpretive freedom. He adjusted the combination of stops to enhance tonal colors, varied the phrasing and tempos and added his own thoughtfully conceived fioriture, all resulting in a dazzling display of fireworks.
A program that began with David Washburn displaying his technical prowess ended similarly, with the trumpeter taking center stage in Torelli’s Concerto in D major, where the effervescent trumpet dominates the outer movements, remaining silent in the central section as the strings weave their affecting wizardry. This rendition further exemplified the outstanding spirit of collaboration that united the evening’s musicians.
Edward Sava-Segal
3.12.2024 – Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin: Xenia Löffler (baroque oboe), Georg Kallweirt (concertmaster and solo violin)
Johann Bernhard Bach – Orchestral Suite No.1 in G minor
Telemann – Quintet in E minor, TWV 44:5; Overture-Suite in G major, TWV 55: G10, ‘Burlesque de Quixotte’
J. S. Bach – Oboe Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056R; Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor, BWV 1060R
8.12.2024 – ‘Baroque Organ’: Paolo Bordignon (organ), Benjamin Beilman & Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Matthew Lipman (viola), Mihai Marica (cello}, Edgar Meyer (double bass), James Austin Smith & Juri Vallentin (oboe), David Washburn (trumpet)
Scarlatti – Three Arias from Arie con Tromba Sola
Walther – Organ Concerto in B minor (after Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in B minor, RV 275)
Biber – The Annunciation’ from Rosary Sonatas for Violin and Organ
J. S. Bach – ‘Sinfonia’ from Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal, BWV 146; ‘Sinfonia’ from Ich habe meine Zuversicht, BWV 188
Daquin – ‘Noël, grand jeu et duo’ from Livre de Noëls
Telemann – Trio Sonata in G minor, TWV 42:g5
Handel – Organ Concerto in A major No.2, Op.7, HWV 307
Torelli – Trumpet Concerto in D major, ‘Estienne Roger 188’