EIF 2023 Dunedin Consort plays Bach Queen's Hall 12th August Review
Dunedin Consort plays Bach, one of the regular 11am classical concerts at the Queen’s Hall that have become a hugely popular series of morning concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival was, as is usual for these concerts, a sell-out performance.
Today, the combination of Dunedin Consort, which since its establishment in 1995 has become Scotland’s leading Baroque ensemble, and the music of Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was simply a perfect combination of music and musicians.
The programme today covered Bach Orchestral Suites (Overtűren) 1, 2, 3, and 4 and for anyone who thinks for some reason that classical music is somehow not for them, then please take the time out to listen to music by Bach (or even go to a concert like this) as you will be surprised how timeless his music is. In the hands of the skilled musicians of Dunedin Concert and John Butt (director/harpsicord) every little musical moment of Bach’s genius, his playfulness, at times almost his sheer love of being alive, comes out clearly, and somehow, unlike some of his contemporaries, Bach’s music is as fresh now as it was some 300 years ago.
Part of this freshness is of course that the music of Bach is everywhere around us. It has been either used as whole pieces of music in so many films and television shows over the years and his presence in popular music touches many musical genres to this day. Here today in Orchestral Suite No 3 is the music that was to become one of the musical sources for “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum.
Musicologists and music historians will tell you in great detail how in these four works Bach is still using French and Italian influences in his work, still trying to elevate German music to the same perceived standard of excellence and find that elusive German style of music. They will tell you how this music is so innovative in the many new ways that it uses new musical ideas, and of course they will tell you about his inspired use of harmony, melody and counter melody. We will be told about the royal courts that were often commissioning Bach’s music and his wonderful use of music to fit the popular dances of the day in high society. For myself I find the last one, that Bach was the dancehall filler of his time just wonderful.
Something else though is happening with Bach’s music; we are 300 years on now from the original times and audiences that it was created for, so why are so many of us still in love with his music? The answer to that is simple, here are the foundation blocks of so much of what we call music today and any songwriter or band who wants to start to understand how to compose music, how to use harmony and melody, how to play with timing, how to use different keys, play with chords in seemingly endless combinations can learn so much just by listening to Bach’s music.
Dunedin Consort take us very close to what listening to this music in a relatively small space might have sounded like and today there was in playful movements between woodwind instruments alone the surprising (well to me anyhow) element of just how physical some of this music can be on a musician. Watching some of the instruments in this ensemble today as Bach’s genius has them playfully weaving in and out of one another to his musical score, you can easily see and hear how Bach could easily have written music for saxophones, jazz ensembles, prog-rock groups, film scores and so much more if he was alive today. All the building blocks were there 300 years ago and Bach put so many of them in place himself, and when a skilled ensemble like Dunedin Consort breathe life into his musical scores, time simply stands still and listens along with us all to one of music’s greatest and most innovative composers of all time.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Today, the combination of Dunedin Consort, which since its establishment in 1995 has become Scotland’s leading Baroque ensemble, and the music of Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was simply a perfect combination of music and musicians.
The programme today covered Bach Orchestral Suites (Overtűren) 1, 2, 3, and 4 and for anyone who thinks for some reason that classical music is somehow not for them, then please take the time out to listen to music by Bach (or even go to a concert like this) as you will be surprised how timeless his music is. In the hands of the skilled musicians of Dunedin Concert and John Butt (director/harpsicord) every little musical moment of Bach’s genius, his playfulness, at times almost his sheer love of being alive, comes out clearly, and somehow, unlike some of his contemporaries, Bach’s music is as fresh now as it was some 300 years ago.
Part of this freshness is of course that the music of Bach is everywhere around us. It has been either used as whole pieces of music in so many films and television shows over the years and his presence in popular music touches many musical genres to this day. Here today in Orchestral Suite No 3 is the music that was to become one of the musical sources for “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum.
Musicologists and music historians will tell you in great detail how in these four works Bach is still using French and Italian influences in his work, still trying to elevate German music to the same perceived standard of excellence and find that elusive German style of music. They will tell you how this music is so innovative in the many new ways that it uses new musical ideas, and of course they will tell you about his inspired use of harmony, melody and counter melody. We will be told about the royal courts that were often commissioning Bach’s music and his wonderful use of music to fit the popular dances of the day in high society. For myself I find the last one, that Bach was the dancehall filler of his time just wonderful.
Something else though is happening with Bach’s music; we are 300 years on now from the original times and audiences that it was created for, so why are so many of us still in love with his music? The answer to that is simple, here are the foundation blocks of so much of what we call music today and any songwriter or band who wants to start to understand how to compose music, how to use harmony and melody, how to play with timing, how to use different keys, play with chords in seemingly endless combinations can learn so much just by listening to Bach’s music.
Dunedin Consort take us very close to what listening to this music in a relatively small space might have sounded like and today there was in playful movements between woodwind instruments alone the surprising (well to me anyhow) element of just how physical some of this music can be on a musician. Watching some of the instruments in this ensemble today as Bach’s genius has them playfully weaving in and out of one another to his musical score, you can easily see and hear how Bach could easily have written music for saxophones, jazz ensembles, prog-rock groups, film scores and so much more if he was alive today. All the building blocks were there 300 years ago and Bach put so many of them in place himself, and when a skilled ensemble like Dunedin Consort breathe life into his musical scores, time simply stands still and listens along with us all to one of music’s greatest and most innovative composers of all time.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com