"Anna Magdalena Bach", the Barrocade Ensemble performs works from the two notebooks of works J.S.Bach devoted to his wife

Inbar Solomon, Anja Hufnagel, Geneviève Blanchard (Yoel Levy)

“At this concert, we will visit the Bach family home and enthuse together over Bach’s love for his young wife - Anna Magdalena, a gifted singer and composer - love that flowed via musical sounds.”  These words are Barrocade, the Israeli Baroque Collective’s introduction to “Anna Magdalena Bach”, a morning concert of the “Golden Bells” festivities at the Jerusalem International YMCA on May 18th, 2019,

 

J.S.Bach was an avid recycler. In fact, the opening work of the Jerusalem concert was an old friend in a new guise:  Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in F major BWV 1057 is the composer’s transcription of the 4th Brandenburg Concerto, but with the violin part given over to the harpsichord and the whole concerto transposed down a major second. The reason for the transposition was, in all probability, to allow the top note of the violin part, E5, to be reached as D5, the common top limit on harpsichords of the time. The alto obbligato recorders are still present (referred to by Bach as “fiauti a bec”), here played by Anja Hufnagel (Germany) and Inbar Solomon. The structure of the music remains unchanged, but the harpsichord part was completely rewritten. Yizhar Karshon took on board the hearty vivacity and virtuosic demands of the work’s outer movements in playing that was crisp, brilliantly alive and entertaining; he gave personal expression, gentle flexing and some ornamentation to the subtly lyrical Andante (second) movement. The recorder players struck a fine balance of blend, displaying both close collaboration and individual say throughout, their playing a kaleidoscope of Baroque recorder techniques and textures. With Amit Tiefenbrunn playing a bass violin he himself had built, the Barrocade players provided ample support to the soloists.

 

Cantata No. 82, “Ich habe genug” (I have sufficient), first performed in 1727, portrays the biblical story of the aged Simeon who, having held the infant Jesus, feels justifiably ready for death. Though usually sung by a bass soloist and oboe obbligato, Bach’s 1731 version in E minor is scored for soprano soloist with flute obbligato, the latter being the version we heard performed by soprano Yeela Avital with Geneviève Blanchard (flute), with Yizזhar Karshon on organ. Avital gave a competent, emotional reading of the work, at times, a little too heavy in her use of vibrato. Addressing the audience in her narration of the story, her singing of “Schlummert ein” (Slumber, my weary eyes) was sensitively phrased, empathic and pleasing, with the final aria “Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod” (With gladness, I look forward to my death) challenging in its tricky,  instrumental-type vocal line, its sense of urgency ignoring bar-lines, bristling with energy. In the obbligato role, Geneviève Blanchard’s playing of the soft-toned Baroque flute wove meaning into every nuance of the text with subtlety and eloquence.

 

Although Bach is remembered by most of us as a virtuoso keyboard player, he was also a skilled violinist. In fact, the first professional job he had was as an orchestral violinist. Soloing in J.S.Bach’s Violin Concerto in E major BWV 1042 (on a violin built by Amit Tiefenbrunn), the work very much according to the Venetian concerto  model both in form and in zest, Shlomit Sivan gave a radiant performance, highlighting solo moments as well as joining orchestral tutti, showing  how  Bach achieved the most remarkable effects with just one instrument in a single musical line. Precise and articulate, not clinical, mechanical or showy, Sivan’s playing was involved and vibrant. In the rhapsodic central Adagio movement, Amit Tiefenbrunn coaxed much deep-felt expression from the curious, sturdy bass violin (a member of the "viola da braccio" family.)

 

The last item on the program was a pot-pourri of short works from the Notebooks Johann Sebastian collated for Anna Magdalena Bach - that of 1722 and of 1725 - their contents providing a glimpse into the domestic music of the 18th century and the musical tastes of the Bach family. Arranged by Tiefenbrunn, each piece offered different and imaginative scoring. The items  included  Geneviève Blanchard’s ornamented,  gently-swayed playing of the Aria of the Goldberg Variations, with two Baroque flutes and bass recorder joining in hearty liaison in Variation No.1; two chorales; Contrapunctus I from “The Art of Fugue” on  recorders, flute, organ and bass violin; and two love songs  - the poignant "Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden" (If you are with me, I go with joy) and the ebullient “Willst du dein Herz mir schenken” (Wouldst thou thine heart now give me):

Wouldst thou thine heart now give me,

Proceed in secrecy,

That twixt us our intentions

No one may ever guess.

Since love must be, if mutual,

Forever silent kept,

So hide thy greatest pleasures

Within thy heart’s recess…” English Translation ©  Z.Philip Ambrose

 

Yeela Avital’s delicate and emotionally-charged performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 concluded the event.



Yeela Avital (photo: Yoel Levy)