Festival Music
Iestyn Davies and Academy of Ancient Music
Queen’s Hall
Svend McEwan-Brown
five stars
HEARING Bach’s joyous music performed by Iestyn Davies and The Academy of Ancient Music of a sunny morning must count as a great, life-affirming pleasure. Yet, glance at the texts Bach sets, and it turns out that they disparage such worldly pleasures and long – repeatedly and at length – for death. With a jolt, this brings home how foreign a country the past truly is: might our delight in Bach’s cantatas strike their creator and his community as alien and odd? Food for thought, but not to distract from a remarkable concert.
The cantatas we heard both date from 1726, a year in which Bach wrote notably splendid music for alto voice. We shall never know which very special singer inspired him, but Davies is an ideal successor. While showing great respect for those texts, he relishes the vocal delights as much as Bach himself must have. Highlights included a lushly restful Venugte Ruh followed by the poignantly world weary Wie Jammern mich; effortless passage work in Gott hat alles and the sheer eloquence of the recitatives. The instrumental playing from the 11-piece AAM deserves every bit as hearty applause. Richard Egarr at the organ added deft brilliance throughout, Katharina Spreckelsen (oboe d’amore) and Daniela Helm (violin) duetted fluidly with Davies in Vergnugte Ruh and the remarkable opening Sinfonia of Geist und Seele was especially beautifully poised. All this following the fascinating revelation about the horses . . .
As Egarr announced, Telemann’s suite Les Nations, portrays different nationalities through their characteristic horses, or even donkeys in the case of Les Boiteux. Ear-catching music as well as terrific entertainment, the players delivered Telemann’s gags with zest, and Egarr added a sly Mussorgsky reference to set up The Muscovites. Great fun.
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