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| Idit Shemer, Dani Espasa, Lina Tur Bonet © Yoel Levy |
The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra opened its 31st subscription season with a
concert devoted to instrumental music of Bach and Handel. Soloists in “The
Brandenburgs” were Lina Tur Bonet (Spain) - conductor/solo violin, Dani Espasa
(Spain) - harpsichord, Doret Florentin, Inbar Solomon - recorders and Idit
Shemer - flute. This writer attended the concert at the Jerusalem International
YMCA on November 4th 2019. Prof. David Shemer, JBO founder and musical
director, offered words of welcome to the audience and spoke of the artists and
programs awaiting the audience in the new season’s concerts.
As its title implies, most of the program was devoted to J.S.Bach’s
Brandenburg Concertos; there was also one work of G.F.Handel. Over the years, a
number of inaccurate and bizarre stories have circulated concerning the
Brandenburg Concertos. What remains clear is that Bach, no longer feeling secure in
his position of Kapellmeister at the Calvinist court of Prince Leopold of
Anhalt-Köthen, was looking for employment elsewhere. In 1718 the composer was
sent to Berlin by Prince Leopold to commission a harpsichord from the workshop
of Michael Mietke, returning there in 1719 to collect it. In Berlin, Bach had
occasion to play for Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, who was
so taken with his music that he asked him to send some of his compositions for
his library. Bach dedicated a volume of six “concerts avec plusieurs
instruments” (concertos for various instruments) to Christian Ludwig, sending
it to the nobleman in 1721 in the hope of being offered employment by him.
There is no record of a reply from the Margrave, and Bach eventually accepted a
lucrative combination of posts in Leipzig, where he then lived for the rest of
his life. There is also no evidence of the Brandenburgs being performed in
Bach’s lifetime. The concertos were finally rediscovered and published in 1849,
nearly 130 years after their composition. In his program notes, David Shemer
discusses the beginnings of the genre of orchestral music in Europe and of the
development of the concerto grosso form in particular. Indeed, the Brandenburg
Concertos give us a glimpse into the evolution of modern orchestral
composition. In them Bach brought together the widest possible combination of
instruments (different for each concerto), combining them in daring
partnerships. Orchestral music would never be the same again once the world had
heard Bach’s colourful and texture-filled Brandenburg Concertos.
Leading the evening’s program was Lina Tur Bonet, no new face to JBO
audiences. On this visit, she was accompanied by harpsichordist Dani Espasa,
with whom she has worked extensively. Brandenburg Concerto No.3 BWV 1048 in G
major is scored for three violins, three violas, three ‘cellos, bass, and harpsichord.
The nine upper strings serve as both concertino (soloists) and ripieno
(accompanists), fluidly transitioning between roles throughout the piece.
Concert-goers are familiar with these pieces, but Tur Bonet was showing the
listener that a concerto is not necessarily a flamboyant, virtuoso solo showpiece as
we tend to think of it today. With ample low-register instruments, the evening’s
general ensemble timbre (especially here, with three ‘cellos and double bass)
was well-anchored, mellow and integrated. Even in the ebullient (final)
Allegro, following the intimacy and cantabile fragility of the miniature second
movement, Tur Bonet kept well clear of muscular, garish playing in favour of the
beauty of the music itself.
The solo instruments in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 BWV 1050 in D major
are flute, violin and harpsichord, the latter also included as a featured
instrument, originally to show off the new instrument Bach had brought back
from Berlin. As the first movement opened with a vigorous tutti theme
for the orchestra, Tur Bonet led her players with subtlety, her solos
expressive, at times delightfully weightless, as she occasionally took the
dynamics down to pianississimo delicacy. As the movement progressed, Espasa
gave the harpsichord solo a sense of humility and stability, growing more
elaborate but never overdone, its sparkling cascades of unaccompanied melody and
figuration in the closing sections presented with gentle rubato. In the
tender Affettuoso movement, with the texture pared down to just the
concertino, Tur Bonet and Idit Shemer - in the honeyed tones of the Baroque
flute - collaborated in poignant dialogue, with Espasa engaging in some inégal
playing. With the entire ensemble joining the soloists for the finale, again
with much dialogue, Tur Bonet and her players indulged in Bach's joie-de-vivre,
contrapuntal ingenuity and rhythmic vivacity, however, with kindly profusion.
If Brandenburg Concerto No.4 BWV 1049 in D major had got off to a very
brisk start, it was not at the expense of Tur Bonet’s melodic shaping or of the
collaboration of Florentin and Solomon on recorders. The violin part in this
concerto is extremely virtuosic in the first and third movements. Who the main
soloists are in the opening movement is never quite clear, but that was not
important as the artists’ mastery and a well-rounded ensemble sound of finely
delineated melodic strands strode hand-in-hand and Tur Bonet’s facial expressions
communicated with her players, with the movement’s final chord coloured by a spicy
dissonance leaning into its solution. In the second movement, the violin bows
down to its recorder partners and provides the bass when the concertino group
plays unaccompanied, with Florentin and Solomon entertaining the listener with
thoughtful variety to each joint recorder response. In the finale, a
combination of concerto style and formal fugue, there was a sense of balance
among all as Tur Bonet negotiated the shimmering passages of arpeggiated
bowings on alternating strings.
G.F.Handel’s Op. 6 Concerti Grossi are widely considered as definitive
examples of the concerto grosso form. The fact that they were intended for
playing during performances of his oratorios and odes does not detract from
their quality. Inspired by the more veteran concerto da chiesa and
concerto da camera of Arcangelo Corelli, the creative lavishness of structure
and the diversity of styles that Handel exhibits in these Twelve Grand
Concertos, coloured by a surprising palette of musical expression, is unique,
often resulting in this collection as being considered alongside Bach’s
Brandenburg Concertos as one of the great monuments of Baroque instrumental
music. Lina Tur Bonet sets the scene for Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.6 HWV 324 in G
minor with a sombre, ponderous, regal, almost spiritual reading of the opening
Larghetto e affettuoso movement. Following the brief chromatic, angular fugue,
the serene mood was recalled in the elegant Musette, a movement offering
dialogue between low and high registers, with Tur Bonet’s solos soaring
plangently above the ensemble, its outer sections punctuated by a brighter
interlude. Tur Bonet offered some flexing to her solo in the first Allegro. As
to the second Allegro, tripping along delightfully in triple time with all the
violins playing in unison, the work drew to a close with the players bowing out
in graceful gestures.
Throughout the evening, Lina Tur Bonet, taking the audience into the world
of small gestures, Baroque elegance and timbral transparency, created the
ambience of fine house music. We might have been hearing these works played in the drawing
room of some noble family in Central Europe.
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