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| Noam Schuss (jbo.co.il) |
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| Einat Aronstein (www.einataronstein.com) |
In "Dresden & London - The Golden
Age". Concert No.5 of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 37th subscription
series on May 3rd 2026, at the Jerusalem International YMCA, JBO concertmaster
Noam Schuss both led and soloed. She also provided the audience with some
interesting background information, explaining the Dresden-London connections as
to composers and works on the program.
We heard soprano Einat Aronstein performing music of Handel. At the harpsichord
and organ was JBO founder and music director Prof. David Shemer.
The concert opened with Francesco
Geminiani's Concerto Grosso No.7 in D minor after Corelli's Violin
Sonata No.5. Vibrant and attractively ornamented, the performance brought
out the music's variety of forms and colours, its musical language straddling
the 17th- and 18th centuries. The JBO's playing was exuberant and moving, with
Geminiani's choice and exploration of emotions remaining accessible to today's
audiences. And here was the first strand of the connection between works on the
program. Having studied under the celebrated Corelli, Geminiani moved to
England in 1714, where his brilliant violin playing immediately met with great success,
winning him much support from the aristocracy and leading figures at the Royal
Court. There, he was invited to play the violin before George I, accompanied at
the harpsichord by Handel himself.
Born in 1667 in Hanover, Antonio Lotti was
a major opera composer of his time, reaching a high point when his operas
inaugurated the opera house in Dresden. In 1717, Lotti took his wife,
noted soprano Santa Stella, castrati Senesino and Matteo Berselli, the bass
Giuseppi Boschi and a complete opera troupe to Dresden. There, Teofane,
the composer's 23rd opera, formed part of the sumptuous wedding celebrations of
Crown Prince Friedrich Augustus and Maria Josepha, Archduchess of Austria. The
new 2000-seat opera house was built for the occasion. Another connection:
Handel attended a performance of Teofane in Dresden, then taking the
libretto back with him as the basis for his opera Ottone. The JBO
musicians put together a small selection of melodies from Teofane, just
enough to whet the audience's appetite to hear the complete work.
And to Bach’s celebrated Orchestral
Suite No.2 in B minor after BWV 1067…but in a less familiar setting to most of the audience. This
was the first time the original violin version (reconstructed by Joshua Rifkin)
was performed in Israel. Schuss led and soloed in this setting for violin solo.
It was for the audience to undertake the task of putting aside the very
familiar sound world of Suite No.2, in which many a flute soloist has been required
to prove his worth with no respite in a work opening in the 17th-century Lully
style, to close with the extremely galant final section. Known for her fine
solo playing and distinctive good taste, Schuss took fellow players and
audience through the work with elegance, vision and attention to fine detail. I
imagine I was not the only person at the YMCA auditorium missing the sound of
the traverse flute contending with the high-spirited Badinerie.
The program featured soprano Einat
Aronstein in a selection of G.F.Handel's vocal masterpieces. She performed two
arias from Handel's opera seria Radamisto - the subdued tragedy imbued
in "Qual nave smarrita" (The vessel storm-driven) and the
anguished "Barbari! Partiro" (Barbarian! I will leave). Radamisto
was first performed at the King's Theatre, London in April 1720, a performance
attended by King George I and his son, the Prince of Wales. One of Handel's
most substantial and elaborate Latin motets, Silete venti (Silence, ye
winds) was also probably composed in London. Aronstein delivered the devotional
work with appropriate, rapt intensity, her voice even and pure, as she engaged
in the careful use of vibrato to impart urgency, her diction precise. Unmannered,
unforced and warm, her singing of the motet displayed refinement and technical
ease in all registers. Aronstein, Schuss and the JBO string players highlighted
the unmistakable dignity of Handel's music.
A concert of excellent performance and
interest, it was splendidly led by Noam Schuss.
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