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Audiences were privileged to attend either in person or online this latest magnificent concert by the Bach Akademie. The concert was filmed at St Francis of Assisi Church, Paddington, and streamed by the Australian Digital Concert Hall.
Under the direction of Madeleine Easton, the Bach Akademie performed music JSBach composed especially for Easter, in 1724 during his appointment as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and now celebrating three hundred years since his appointment.
Easton conducted vigorously both from the rostrum and on violin, forming a finely polished, multi-layered and nuanced performance that paid close attention to the structure of the music. The choral singing was lucent, dynamic and precise.
Three pieces were performed, the concert opening with the CANTATA BWV 66 , ERFREUT EUCH , IHR HERZEN in six parts. It begins very briskly with the powerful choir having a discussion with Richard Fomison on trumpet. Bass Jack Stephens performs the first recitative and aria, Es bricht…Lasset dem Höchstenin terrifically with oboeist Kailen Crisp. Then we hear alto Stephanie Dillon (Fear) and tenor Richard Butler (Hope) in their recitatives, debating if one mourns or glorifies, augmented in their next aria by Easton’s masterly, bright playing on her 1682 Giovanni Gancino violin.
Then came a superb rendition of the motet KOMM, JESU KOMM BWV 229 for eight voices, sung acapeella and divided into two parts, which at times throbbed and pulsated, bubbling joyously then became far more pensive but with the soaring voices of Susannah Lawergren, Stephanie Dillon, Richard Butler, Andrew Fysh, Brianna Louwen, Hannah Fraser, Timothy Reynolds and Jack Stephens. Listeners could consider grief, loss and the covenant of possible eternity. The first section’s pleas are sung at a thoughtful pace, whereas the second part increases in tempo and urgency. In the third section the voices leap joyously and overall, the work blends fugato and antiphony within its repeated circular structure .
After interval we heard Bach’s MISSA BREVIS IN F MAJOR BWV 233 in a glittering, passionate performance. Encompassing just the Gloria and Kyrie , this is one of Bach’s four short ‘Lutheran Masses’, this particular one specifically planned for Good Friday. It highlights the use of oboes, French horns and a full choir.
The serenity of the Kyrie, with Neal Peres da Costa on harpsichord, is interrupted by the horns, leading to the buoyant Gloria. Domine Deus was impressively performed by bass Andrew Fysh and there was also a felicitous performance by Jack Stephens earlier.
A major focal point was soprano Susannah Lawergren’s poignant, searing, soaring account of the Qui Tollis section, in exchanges with the oboe as played by Crisp. Alto Hannah Fraser and Easton performed a polished Quoniam , which also spotlit a lustrous ‘violono solo’ by Easton, with the horns returning for a circling, bubbling wave of sound in the Cum Sancto Spiritu, leading to a thrilling conclusion .
The concert made us ponder the various elements of Easter – anguish, reverence, triumph and remembrance.
Running time approx. 1hr 40 min including interval
The Program: J.S. Bach Cantata ‘Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen’ BWV 66/ Motet ‘Komm, Jesu, komm’ BWV 229/ — Interval —/ Missa Brevis in F major BWV 233
https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/
https://australiandigitalconcerthall.com/#/item/101640
