Above: Bach Akademie performer Mikaela Oberg joined Artistic Director Madeleine Easton in the ‘Sonata sopra’il soggetto Real’ from The Musical Offering. Featured image: Easton and Bach Akademie artists perform the Violin Concerto in A minor BMW 1041. Photo credit: David Hooley.
It is often easy to recognise Bach’s genius as soon as we hear it. As audience members we relish any event that explores several genres from such a musical genius, especially bold and thoughtful interpretations by specialist performers.
In less than ten years doing the above as a group, Madeleine Easton and her troupe of charismatic performance geniuses from Bach Akademie Australia have been presenting Bach-centric programmes to a growing group of loyal followers.
This event, Bach-The Mind of a Genius, was a return for Bach Akademie Australia to an all-Bach programme. To remind us of his innovation and pure genius, Easton selected and engagingly narrated works for keyboard, string ensemble, concerto and accompanied voice genres.
A return to solo harpsichord rather than piano versions of Bach’s keyboard polyphony prowess reached us via the secure, evergreen keyboard technique and informed mind of Neal Peres Da Costa.
In his hands, the concert’s first half began with a fantasia intro to an exquisitely, refreshingly paced and much freer Prelude in C major from The Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 than usually heard.
The ensuing fugue on harpsichord was also keenly re-invented as it formed the concert’s first display of JS Bach’s polyphonic mastery, heard later across ensembles of varying sizes.
To end the first half of the concert, this regular Bach Akademician thrilled us with an athletic and erudite performance of the final five variations of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. It was rewarding to hear these examples of ingenuity, recently so popular in expressively nuanced live piano performances, back in harpsichord voice.
Enduring signposts of Bach’s fugal writing from other major works fleshed out much of the remainder of the concert discussion. Excerpts from The Musical Offering and a touching, transcendent reading of 3 contrapunctus movements The Art of Fugue required audience stamina to process the amount of fugal manipulation on firework rotation.
The clear realisation of the genius textures ensured there was plenty of space for emotion and the performers’ communication plus dialogue skill to shine in these so-much-more than academic versions.
The selected moments from The Art of Fugue concluding the lifetime of lithe musical genius surely gave many audience members ‘Bachbumps’. A magical mist of esteem and a huge ovation drenched the venue after the 6 part Ricercar from The Musical Offering paid homage to the hard-working Bach genius mind.
Above: Soprano Bonny de la Hunty performing ‘Wie zittern un wanken der Sünder Gedanken’. Photo credit : David Hooley.
Total take home moments of atmosphere created in this events excited discussion were the Violin Concerto in A minor BWV 1041 and the aria ‘Wie zittern und wanken der Sünder Gedanken from Cantata BWV 105.
Madeleine Easton shone with expressive excellence as the well known concerto was devoured so joyously with a reverberant sound by just only six performers plus soloist.
The air was electric as this music filled it with a finely gestured interpretation to be labelled performance genius in anyone’s eyes and grateful ears.
Bach Akademie Australia’s ongoing ability to attract quality early music experts for concerts of both vocal and instrumental displays of Bach’s genius was clearly evidenced by the Cantata 105 excerpt inclusion.
Soprano Bonny de la Hunty’s performance of the intimate Bach aria so beautifully accompanied was a consummate, sustained dramatic event.
Her beautifully clear Bach voice demonstrated in conjunction with the Bach Akademicians a typical word painting moment of excellence setting text about sinners fearing God from Bach’s infinitely varied sacred cantata output.
Vielen dank Bach Akademie Australia for a concert that once again made us even bigger Bach fans. This display of genius honed for good during Baroque times was cleverly devised and delivered so stunningly and accessibly to our grateful, modern audience minds.
