Dunedin-Consort-Leipzig 300 Bach Telermann Queen's Hall Edinburgh 8th February 2024 Review
Dunedin Consort, Leipzig 300 Music by Bach and Telemann at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight celebrates the 300th anniversary of perhaps one of the most significant job interviews and appointments in musical history – the appointment in 1723 of J.S. Bach to the position of Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.
The Thomaskirche had by this time firmly established itself for its musical reputation, particularly its choir. It did come as a surprise to me to learn that Bach was only third choice in filling this vacancy and that the other two composers featured in tonight’s programme of music - Georg Philipp Telemann and Christoph Graupner were considered first (in that order) for the post. Today most people (including myself) are far more familiar with Bach’s name and his music than his two contemporaries mentioned and obviously the job was destined to be Bach’s.
One of Bach’s main duties (other than teaching) was to compose liturgical cantatas not only for every Sunday but also for every feast day of the year. Bach’s musical output was everything his new employers could have hoped for and in his first four years alone he composed 150 cantatas.
Tonight’s full programme (below) has many surprises in it.
Christoph Graupner Overture in E flat major, GWV 429
Georg Philipp Telemann Concerto for viola in G major, TWV 51:G9
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt’, BWV 18
INTERVAL
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?’, BWV 81
Georg Philipp Telemann Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt, TWV 7:20
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister’, BWV 181
First of those surprises for me was just how light and joyful the majority of these works are. This is music to fill the heart and the soul and far away from the darker and heavier feeling that you can get from many other works of church music. It is easy to imagine how people of the day responded to entering the glorious colours and richness of the very Thomaskirche building itself with the sounds of this wonderful music being performed and filling the very air itself with something very special. To enter and pray and hear the sermon spoken inside this church must have been a very special day for everyone.
The second surprise of this programme of music is the choice to replace the violins with violas; Telemann’s Leipzig concerto was the first written specifically for this instrument and his sparse use of other instruments in the orchestra to bring out and complement the sound of the viola is inspired. Telemann’s use of the trumpet in his work from the second half of tonight’s programme of music was a bold statement resonated clearly throughout the Queen’s Hall this evening.
Bach of course is the name that probably drew many people into this concert tonight and his fascination with numbers, in particular the number three (the holy trinity to him) is everywhere.
This music is of course a praise to God, with four vocalists this evening Julia Doyle (soprano),Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), and Matthew Brook (baritone) singing in German and adding their combined considerable talents to the music of the evening.
As always director John Butt (and harpsichord) and the musicians of Dunedin Consort share their obvious love of performing this music with their audience.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The Thomaskirche had by this time firmly established itself for its musical reputation, particularly its choir. It did come as a surprise to me to learn that Bach was only third choice in filling this vacancy and that the other two composers featured in tonight’s programme of music - Georg Philipp Telemann and Christoph Graupner were considered first (in that order) for the post. Today most people (including myself) are far more familiar with Bach’s name and his music than his two contemporaries mentioned and obviously the job was destined to be Bach’s.
One of Bach’s main duties (other than teaching) was to compose liturgical cantatas not only for every Sunday but also for every feast day of the year. Bach’s musical output was everything his new employers could have hoped for and in his first four years alone he composed 150 cantatas.
Tonight’s full programme (below) has many surprises in it.
Christoph Graupner Overture in E flat major, GWV 429
Georg Philipp Telemann Concerto for viola in G major, TWV 51:G9
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt’, BWV 18
INTERVAL
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?’, BWV 81
Georg Philipp Telemann Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt, TWV 7:20
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister’, BWV 181
First of those surprises for me was just how light and joyful the majority of these works are. This is music to fill the heart and the soul and far away from the darker and heavier feeling that you can get from many other works of church music. It is easy to imagine how people of the day responded to entering the glorious colours and richness of the very Thomaskirche building itself with the sounds of this wonderful music being performed and filling the very air itself with something very special. To enter and pray and hear the sermon spoken inside this church must have been a very special day for everyone.
The second surprise of this programme of music is the choice to replace the violins with violas; Telemann’s Leipzig concerto was the first written specifically for this instrument and his sparse use of other instruments in the orchestra to bring out and complement the sound of the viola is inspired. Telemann’s use of the trumpet in his work from the second half of tonight’s programme of music was a bold statement resonated clearly throughout the Queen’s Hall this evening.
Bach of course is the name that probably drew many people into this concert tonight and his fascination with numbers, in particular the number three (the holy trinity to him) is everywhere.
This music is of course a praise to God, with four vocalists this evening Julia Doyle (soprano),Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), and Matthew Brook (baritone) singing in German and adding their combined considerable talents to the music of the evening.
As always director John Butt (and harpsichord) and the musicians of Dunedin Consort share their obvious love of performing this music with their audience.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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