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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
December 20, 2014
Although there are many reasons one would prefer to be living today rather than in the eighteenth century (my number one reason for preferring the present to the past can be summed up in a single word: dentistry), we of the twenty-first century can only imagine the sheer unadulterated bliss of the complete absence of seasonal music for the four weeks preceding the Big Day.
For the good burghers of Leipzig in the year 1734 that silence was broken on Christmas Day by the joyous strains of "Jauchzet, frohlocket! Auf, preiset die Tage" ("Shout for joy!, exult, rise up, glorify the day"), the first of the six cantatas which together constitute Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Once again, the impact of this great masterpiece on its first listeners is something we can never know, only contemplate through our envy.
However, those fortunate enough to have been present for the Early Music Society of the Islands' final presentation of 2014, probably felt as much of that excitement as is possible almost three centuries after the fact, as Stephen Stubbs directed a magnificent performance of three of the six cantatas.
Drawing on the collective early musical skills and talents of four cities - Victoria (including members of the Lafayette String Quartet, Victoria Baroque Players and Victoria Symphony), Vancouver, Seattle and Portland - both the singing and playing were excellent.
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to single out "highlights" of the performance, as arguably every single movement, even the often dry-as-dust recitatives, was outstanding.
However, if pinned against a wall and threatened with serious unpleasantness, I suppose I would definitely have to nominate the opening chorus, which has taken on the nature of an "earworm" for me over the Christmas season: the rhythmic bounce of the playing, the joyful singing, the delicious contributions of the flutes and oboes and of course, the trumpets (the trumpets!). The word "gosh!" appears in my notebook at this point.
As for those recitatives; a merely dutiful soloist can make these short, narrative, interjections seem interminable. All four soloists on this occasion were clearly at the top of their game and made the recitatives interesting and - yes - musical, with the listener keen to hear what came next, rather than simply eager for the recitative to end and "proper" singing begin again. (Do I make too much of this point? I don't think so, certainly I can never recall enjoying listening to recitatives as much as this - if at all.) The fact that Bach varies the continuo is definitely a factor - and the continuo playing was superb - but for my money it is the singers who make or break the recitatives
The chorus - or "vocal ripienists" - were only eight strong, but "strong" is undoubtedly an appropriate word, for they never sounded underpowered. In the more extravert music their joy was infectious, whereas the chorales were simply gorgeous.
The orchestra, some two dozen of them, were magnificent: the combination of doublebass and violone provided a firm foundation for the solid body of strings, the winds were full of character and the trumpets and timpani provided a suitably triumphal air when appropriate.
Overall, Stubbs - standing at a harpsichord mounted on blocks - directed superb performances, reminding me of Christopher Fry's remark that "Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian".
The only non-vocal music of the evening was also by Bach (let's face it, any other composer would tend to come off second-best). The third Orchestral Suite is known for its second movement Air, largely because of the 19th century arrangement by the curiously-spelled August Wilhelmj [sic], known as the "Air on a G string".
Evidently Stubbs has been persuaded by Joshua Rifkin's argument, in a 1997 paper, that the original version was for strings and continuo alone. Either that or his trumpet players needed a rest. The performance itself was excellent, from the stately opening to the delicious final triple-time dance. And the air was delectable with a lovely swelling violin line that, as I observed in my notebook, made time seem to stand still.
But I did miss the trumpets and I know that there was at least one other person in the hall mentally providing their parts.
I entered the hall somewhat dutifully, as the Christmas Oratorio is (or was) far from my favourite Bach. I exited with a big grin on my face, totally converted to the view that the oratorio is one of his great masterpieces.
This was a magnificent collaborative effort and it is reassuring to know that if Cascadia should ever become a reality, it will have a world-class early music ensemble.
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