To set the scene for the evening’s program, Karshon mentioned new steps of the progress in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy and logic taking place in Europe in the Age of Enlightenment and how these developments affected the arts. Baroque composers were now placing more emphasis on texts, experimenting with expressive means and addressing the drama playing out between characters. Karshon advised those attending the concert to forget about listening analytically and just to follow how one emotion of the music leads to another.
Offering four works of Italian composers, the program opened with Marco Uccellini’s Aria quinta sopra la Bergamasca for 2 violins and continuo from the early Baroque Italian composer’s 1642 “Sonate, arie et correnti” Op.3. In this lively rustic dance, set over a simple repeating bass pattern, there is much virtuosic display in the violin parts as was fashionable in the 17th century. This music should be heard more frequently and not only because the prolific Uccellini was the first to publish music specifically for the violin. Another ostinato-based work, issued in by the gentle sounds of the theorbo (Ophira Zakai) was Tarquinio Merula’s multi-layered Ciaconna, with Ringelstein and Goldberg totally like-minded in their concept of the violin roles. Antonio Vivaldi’s 12th and last Op.1 trio sonata is actuality, a set of variations on the “La folia,” theme, a well-used melody and repeating harmonic progression dating back to roughly the late 15th century, ‘folly’ or ‘madness’ in Italian referring to the frenzied way peasants twirled to the music. Similar to Corelli’s variations on the theme, especially in the choice of virtuosic figurations, Vivaldi takes advantage of the extra violin to engage in exciting imitative play. Opening with a Sarabande-type rhythm, twenty variations follow, to sign out with a small coda, the work offering a kaleidoscope of contrasting moods and textures, imitation and florid figures. As of Variation XVII, the music gradually builds in momentum to culminate in the unrelenting energy of the final two variations. Ringelstein, Goldberg and Waterman took on Vivaldi’s virtuosic demands with pizzazz, also to implore and appeal with the plangent utterances of Italian opera arias in moments of cantabile expressiveness. Dario Castello, the leader of a company of wind players categorized his music, with its new and uncompromising style, as ‘In Stil Moderno’ (modern style). In performance that was vital, spontaneous and playful, the instrumentalists here gave life and expression to the music’s typically Italian Baroque alternations of tempo- and mood contrasts, as it swung from exciting, dramatic tutti to pensive moments and back again. In addition to brilliant violin playing, we heard fine soloing on the part of ‘cellist Tami Waterman. Avant-garde? Yes, definitely! Indeed, Castello’s art is imbued with the ideals of breaking rules and pushing boundaries.
When talking of daring and emotion in music, the works of C.P.E.Bach (Johann Sebastian’s fifth and second surviving son), with their volatility of tone and temper, come across today as avant-garde as they must have sounded to listeners in the composer’s time. Known for his trailblazing contribution to the style of "Empfindsamkeit" (sensitivity), as influenced by the Age of Enlightenment, this style was marked by eccentric, suddenly contrasting moods and arching, lyrical lines of melody. To achieve this, Emanuel Bach revolutionized principles of form, harmony and rhythm. The Trio Sonata in G minor “Sanguineus und Melancholicus” (1759) is a rarity, even in this unconventional composer's output, in that it is a quasi-programmatic work. It presents a dialogue between one sanguine character (1st violin) and another, who is melancholic (2nd violin). In their representation of the two characters, Ringelstein and Goldberg, expounding the traits of each, were convincing and theatrical in their playing out of the meeting of the starkly contrasting personalities, expressed in music brimming with sudden harmonic changes, enigmatic silences, melodic fragmentation and abrupt rhythmic displacements. This is indeed an extraordinary concert piece! Leaving no room for doubt as to his artistic approach, Carl Philipp Emanuel wrote: "I believe that music should touch the heart first and foremost. Real music has a freedom that eliminates anything slavish or machine-like. One has to play from the soul, not like a performing bird."
Concluding a concert of fine music-making and seamless teamwork, the artists performed Johann Sebastian Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052. A work with an interesting, hybrid genealogy, it contains repurposed material from two of Bach's cantatas and may have originally been written as a violin concerto. With the Carmel ensemble smaller than most that perform this work, the artists struck fine timbral balance, with all lines emerging articulate and expressive and the theorbo (Zakai) adding elegance, subtlety and textures to the ensemble sound. Their playing was commanding and polished, neither dry nor over-sentimental, their reading of the concerto devoid of any exaggeration or one-upmanship as they presented the contrasts of character of each of the minor-hued movements. As to Karshon’s treatment of the harpsichord part, his playing exuded ease and quiet confidence as he engaged Bach’s virtuosic writing to mirror the work’s meaning, weaving through it a web of exquisite beauty till, in the final movement, he guided the listener through Bach’s extravagant keyboard cadenza, temporarily addressing a major key before a final, enthralling return to D minor. Adding to the audience’s enjoyment was the very fine camera work that offered many glimpses of Karshon’s fingerwork on the two-manual harpsichord keyboard, his own harpsichord - a magnificent Flemish instrument based on a Ruckers model, built by Dutch instrument builder Titus Crijnen.
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