Friday, 28 July 2000, 8.45 pm (marking the time and date of Bach’s death)
St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne
Bach 250 Commemoration
Melbourne Early Music Festival in association with Monash University
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B minor
| Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Claerwen Jones Rebecca Bennett Jane Phillips Katherine Norman Maria Pisani Kathryn Pisani Sophie Pinkham Felicity Emselle Judith Martyn-Ellis |
Alto Margaret Arnold Jennifer George Christina Jonas Jennifer Mathers Barbara Tattam Niki Ebacioni |
Tenor Vaughan McAlley Peter Neustupny Peter Campbell Stuart Tennant Frank Prain Joel Gladman |
Bass Thomas Drent Philip Nicholls Sam Furphy Andrew Fysh John Weretka Jonathan Wallis |
–
Soloists:
Helen Gagliano – soprano
Margaret Pearce – soprano
David V. Russell – alto
Simon Biazeck – tenor
Stephen Grant – bass
Concentus Australis
John O’Donnell – conductor
REVIEW
Tuesday, 1 August 2000, The Age [Melbourne], p. 4.
Fitting Tribute to Bach
Joel Crotty
THE 19th century was the right time for the revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach. It was the period in
which the great man theory ruled supreme, and Bach was positioned as one of the elite in music.
Throughout the 1800s, musical societies and choirs were formed to study and perform his scores. The
fledgling discipline of musicology grappled with the task of editing his manuscripts. Bach, in effect, became
the personification of the late baroque period.
The Bach cult diminished somewhat in the 20th century. The great man theory was dismissed by music
commentators as being too narrow and, with the rise of feminism, too sexist. As broader scholastic work was
carried out on the baroque era, Bach became contextualised rather than deified.
Moreover, Bach was slowly lowered from his pedestal as recording companies swamped the market with
other baroque “gems”. Bach’s music was now competing for attention with hyped-up tidbits such as
Pachelbel’s Canon. However, this year, the market-driven competition has momentarily ceased as we
celebrate the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. The Bach cult has resurfaced.
The festival held last weekend was a cult-like activity that had a purity of purpose as it went way beyond
normal programming frameworks. The director, John O’Donnell, is to be commended for the way he
organised and delivered this Bach celebration.
He programmed some of the composer’s most endearing pieces, such as the Mass in B minor, the
Brandenburgs, the Peasant Cantata, the Coffee Cantata, and the Magnificat. And O’Donnell somehow found
the stamina to perform in most of the concerts.
To his credit, O’Donnell gathered most of Australia’s finest early music instrumental specialists, including
Cynthia O’Brien (violin), Greg Dikmans (flute), Antony Chesterman (oboe), Emma Davislim-Black (oboe),
Glenys March (harpsichord), Jacqueline Ogeil (harpsichord), Miriam Morris (viola da gamba), Ruth
Wilkinson (viola da gamba and recorder) and Darryl Poulson (horn).
This group formed the backbone to Concentus Australis – an ensemble that provided the instrumental support
for the vocal works.
A voice that reappeared constantly throughout the concerts was that of the soprano Helen Gagliano. She has
been a member of O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert for a number of years but this was the first time I had
heard her as a soloist. Her voice, while not particularly strong, produces a wonderful array of tone colors, and
her musicianship highlights a background of solid training.
The Mass in B minor opened the festival and had a large audience at St Patrick’s Cathedral. In the vocal
department, the performance featured Gagliano, Margaret Pearce (soprano), David Vivian Russell (counter
tenor), Simon Biazeck (tenor), Stephen Grant (bass) and an expanded Ensemble Gombert. The work was
rendered in a most disciplined fashion so that the emotional content was not awkwardly expressed.
The subsequent concerts at Monash University’s Robert Blackwood Hall were unfortunately not
well-attended. In fact, due to the intimate nature of the pieces, they would have been better staged at the
School of Music’s Auditorium.
Overall, the First and Fourth Brandenburg Concertos were aired with a great deal of energy, especially from
violinist Anna McDonald during the fourth; while Cynthia O’Brien’s violino piccolo increased the level of
interest during the first. However, the viola players in the sixth concerto were unable to resolve pitch
problems.
The upper strings occasionally had intonation concerns during the harpsichord concertos and the hall revealed
issues of ensemble balance. Due to the need for player solidarity, the keyboards faced away from the
audience, which gave the impression we were viewing four ornate coffins.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age