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| Maestro Philippe Pierlot © Yoel Levy |
No new face to the Israeli concert scene, Belgian conductor Philippe Pierlot directed "Hallelujah", the third concert of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 36th season. In a program of music by two German Baroque composers, JBO instrumentalists were joined by members of the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (director: Yuval Benozer) and soloists Nitzan Alon (alto), Daniel Portnoy (tenor), Roi Witz (bass), Noam Schuss (violin), Idit Shemer (flute) and Aviad Gershoni (oboe). This writer attended the event at the Jerusalem International YMCA on January 19th, 2025.
The program included three anthems of
George Frideric Handel, all to Psalm texts, all representative of the
composer's embarking on- and grand entrance into the English church music
tradition. Handel spent two years (1717–1718) as resident composer at Cannons,
the opulent mansion of James Brydges (later known as the Duke of Chandos),
during which time the composer wrote nearly a dozen anthems, all composed for
strings and solo wind instruments. Though each is written for a small group of
singers and instrumentalists, they are conceived on a grand scale. The
Jerusalem concert opened with "As Pants the Hart" HWV 251e, its
moving text extracted from Psalm 42. This anthem, featuring solo oboe, quickly
became the most popular of the Chandos collection. Opening with a dramatic two-part
Sinfonia, Pierlot and the artists' fresh, inspired reading of the work brought
out the text's natural images, rendering them analogous to its religious
meaning. In "Why so full of grief", a duet remarkable both for its
beautiful characterization of sorrow and disquietude, and for the way in which
the two voice parts weave through each other, alto (Nitzan Alon) and young tenor
(Daniel Portnoy) were deftly juxtaposed with the dueting violin and oboe
- Noam Schuss and Aviad Gershoni. Another Chandos anthem "I will
magnify thee, O God", HWV 250a, emerged bright and celebratory, abundant
in layering yet transparent to the listener. The performance gave prominence to
promising young bass Roi Witz' resonant singing and fine English pronunciation
and to the lustrous colours of Alon's upper alto range, with duets presenting
independence of agenda and much interest. Again, there was much beautiful,
expressive playing on the part of Gershoni.
On October 11th 1727, George II was crowned
at Westminster Abbey. Handel was commissioned to compose four anthems for the
ceremony. The composer had long served the monarch's family since his time in
Hanover, his music much loved by George II and Queen Caroline. Despite Handel
receiving the title of Composer of Music for His Majesty’s Chapel Royal in
1723, as a foreign composer he would not have been eligible to write music for
such an occasion. However, one of George I's final gestures was to grant Handel
British citizenship. "Let thy hand be strengthened" HWV 259 was the
first anthem to be performed at the coronation ceremony and the only one to
have no vocal soloists, trumpets or drums. Based on Psalm 89, its initial
message endorses recognition of the king as the rightful ruler. Throughout the
piece's three movements, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble's singing was informed, precise and
forthright, the singers underscoring the contrasts between movements,
preserving the anthem's tension, its introspective moments and subtlety,
highlighting such key words as "justice" and engaging in some sparing
ornamentation. Not frequently heard on these shores, here was a fine
opportunity to hear and appreciate these splendid Handel anthems.
Introducing the two instrumental works of Georg
Philipp Telemann on the program, JBO founder/music director Prof. David Shemer spoke of the
connection between Telemann and Handel. They were German teenagers when they
first met, but life separated them thereafter, Handel becoming the legend of
London’s concert scene while Telemann was Hamburg’s all-round musical luminary.
But they retained a robust correspondence, discussing and exchanging works,
each influencing the other. (It is known that they both shared a liking for
exotic plants!) In 1718, Telemann wrote that the concerto genre did not appeal
to him, a statement that might be interpreted as a distaste for the
ostentatious display of virtuosity typical of some Italian concertos. Indeed, Telemann's
interest lay in innovation of scoring, style and structure. The oboe occupies
an important place in his oeuvre, which numbers ten concertos for the oboe and
three for the oboe d'amore. Aviad Gershoni was soloist in Telemann's Oboe
Concerto in E minor, TWV 51:e1, a work in the composer's preferred
(pre-Vivaldian) four-movement, sonata da chiesa form. Remembered as a virtuoso
recorder player, we are reminded here that Telemann was also a skilled oboist.
Placing its cantabile, poignant movements alongside the two more dazzling,
zesty movements, Gershoni's playing was subtly shaped and personal, his
performance offering the audience another opportunity to enjoy his signature
agility and expressiveness on the Baroque oboe.
Remaining in the same key, we heard
Telemann's Concerto in E minor for flute and violin in E minor, TWV 250b, with
two prominent JBO players as soloists - Idit Shemer (flute) and concertmaster
Noam Schuss. One of the concertos featuring unconventional combinations of solo
instruments (one of the less extreme cases) transverse flute and Baroque violin
present different sound worlds and different personalities. The work is in five
movements. In the second movement, a lyrical Adagio, there was much refined
melodic interplay between Shemer and Schuss, as each soloist added her own
ornamentation, here and there to meet on a meticulously synchronized embellishment. The
most unusual movement is the third, which is entirely for violin, with Schuss
engaging in some virtuosic playing (not typical of Telemann's writing or
conviction!)
In this concert, supported by the fine-spun
playing of the JBO instrumentalists and featuring
much home-grown talent, Maestro Pierlot brought together singers and
instrumentalists in a sparkling evening of excellent performance and uplifting music.
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