One wonders what musical legacy would have been handed down if a key church musical appointment in 1723 had gone differently. The Leipzig selection committee’s first and second choices to fill the position of Thomaskantor fell through, with Georg Philipp Telemann preferring Hamburg and Christoph Graupner unable to leave his position in Darmstadt. Johann Sebastian Bach was third choice in a tricky decision, placating the Pietists’ desire for plain spiritual music while having an eye on the more municipal and secular, especially since the city’s opera house was in trouble at the time. For Bach, with congregations of over 2,000 on a Sunday, it was a rich experimental playground resulting in a legacy of hundreds of cantatas, based on the biblical text of the week. This Leipzig 300 programme from the Dunedin Consort showcased work from Bach’s competitors alongside three of his own cantatas written 300 years ago.
Graupner’s Overture in E flat major for a simple string orchestra was an attractive playful dance suite opener in eight movements, all slow phrases and solemn dotted rhythms before bursting out into more fugal textures, the players passing themes around with gusto, John Butt directing from the harpsichord keeping the balance light and airy. A Rigaudon, Gavotte and Menuets had a lithe deftness and the final “l’inesporabilità” (implacability), a cycle of solemn phrases interrupted by sudden helter-skelter, was a joy. John Crockatt stepped out from the ensemble to give a rich account of Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G major a golden mellow tone, stately in the opening Largo, then dancing brilliantly in the Allegro. An expressive Andante was followed by a lively Presto, Butt driving his players to make the music swing, Crockatt fully immersed in the spirit, performing astonishing runs.
Continuing the viola showcase, Bach’s cantata Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee von Himmel fällt, BWV18, strips out the violins, the Consort sporting four violas to convey the text’s snow and rain to moisten the earth, two recorders adding musical colour. Nicholas Mulroy and Matthew Brook were interrupted by the imploring soprano Julia Doyle, with mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston joining in short choruses seeking the Lord to hear their prayers. The work’s only aria had Doyle’s voice soaring sweetly in a lively arrangement, with the unison violas providing an enchanting sound world. As if to counteract the operatic, all singers joined in a solemn chorale ending the work.
The cantata Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen? was composed for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, on the text of the disciples waking Jesus to calm the storm in the sea of Galilee. Charlston’s wonderfully rich long notes and rocking accompaniment depicted the sleeping Jesus, Mulroy’s tenor was more strident as the storm raged, recorders switching to oboes as Brook’s authoritative baritone calmed the waters.
A glimpse into what might have been should Telemann have been appointed was his joyous setting of the Hundredth Psalm as the cantata Jauchet dem Herrn alle Welt, a showcase for strings with the addition of Paul Sharp’s natural trumpet. Matthew Brook, in the six short sections, was by turns triumphal in praise, intense and stately, finally jubilant in the final Alleluia.
Bach’s cantata Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister, composed in February 1724, is based on the Parable of the Sower. The performance had John Butt turning up the momentum, driving his players along with purpose, Brooke’s depiction of the devil Belial full of drama. Charlston’s recitative on stony ground and hearts was profound, and I loved violinist Huw Daniel’s powerful winding solo set against Mullroy’s aria. The work ends not in a chorale, but a delightful chorus of the comfort of good fertile soil in the fields and our hearts.
