A New Song: Bach and the German Baroque
Oxford Baroque
Kings Place, 11 February 2016
JS Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein nein neues Lied (BWV 225), Lobet den Herrn (BWV 230), Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227); J Ludwig Bach: Das ist meine Freude; Schütz Singet dem Herr ein neues Lied (SWV 35), and pieces by Gabrieli, Calvisius, Johann Walther, Hassler, Erbach, Roth, Handl.
The Kings Place ‘Baroque Unwrapped’ series continued with a fascinating concert by Oxford Baroque exploring the rich history of the German motet, generally focussing on 
the late Renaissance, but with three of Bach’s motets and one by his second cousin and near contemporary, Johann Ludwig Bach. As is so often the case with programmes like this, the sheer power and musical conviction of JS Bach’s motets put all the other composers into the shade, but I guess the audience would have been smaller if JS Bach wasn’t represented.
As David Lee pointed out in his programme note, writers often assume that Bach’s motets are an essay in an outdated form, rather like Purcell’s Fantasias for the viols. But they are in fact a continuation of an important Lutheran tradition. Described (by JG Walther, in 1732) as a “composition on a biblical text, to be sung with only continuo instruments, richly ornamented with fugues and imitations”, they reflect Luther’s insistence on the importance of music as “the greatest treasure in the world”.
A simple chorale-like setting of Ein neues Lied wir heben an by Johann Walther (1496-1570) was segued into Schütz’s sumptuous 8-part setting of Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, the voices swinging from left to right in the Italian polychoral tradition. It was noticeable how Schütz used longer melismas for the passage referring to the joyful noise of the harp, trumpets and cornets. The one non-German composer was Giovanni Gabrieli, with his gentle double-choir O Domine Jesu Christe, here using high-low and well as left-right contrasts. Christian Erbach is a composer that deserves far more exposure than he usually gets. He was represented here by his Domine, Dominus noster, the rhythmic complexity and complex inner movement marking out a composer of distinction. The slightly later Martin Roth also impressed with his Allein zu dir, with its contrasting chorale-like sections and bouncy left-right altercations. However I found the lengthy organ introduction that preceded it rather curious; not least because of the harpsichord-like rapidly spread chords.
Johann Ludwig Bach’s Das ist meine Freude was an attractive piece in a later idiom, the repeated opening phrase being a notable feature throughout. Jacob Handl’s a capella Ecce Quomodo moritur Justus was a gentle introduction to the second half, and was followed by the equally early motet by Sethus Calvisius, a composer unknown to me, and I suspect many others. He was a predecessor of Bach’s as Cantor of the Leipzig Thomasschule, and Bach purchased copies of his music when he was in Leipzig. Unser leben währet siezig Jahr slipped in and out of triple rhythms and also contrasted faster and slower sections.
After a further two JS Bach motets, Oxford Baroque finished with a gentle Gute Nacht encore. The eight singers occasionally revealed what was possibly limited rehearsal time, and I found the vibrato of the two otherwise impressive sopranos, although mild by some standards, a little too prominent for my tastes. But otherwise they all sang with a commendable sense of style, conviction and occasional gusto. It was refreshing to see a choir singing without an obvious director, any needed coordination coming from within the group. They were accompanied by a viola da gamba, violone, and organ. It was good to be able to actually hear the organ during the Bach motets.
Tabea Debus is a young recorder player, currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music. She first came to my attention when she sent me a review copy of her first CD (
Unless you are a lutenist, or particular fan of lute music, you may not have heard of Vincenzo Galilei. But his eldest son might be more familiar – the physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei. Another son became a lute virtuoso and composer. Vincenzo was born around 1520 and moved to Pisa where he married into nobility and joined a group of influential humanist intellectuals. This led to Vincenzo Galilei making a range of important discoveries on the nature of sound, acoustics and musical physics together with far-sighted theories on music which hold good to this day, including the role of dissonance and the beginning of the style of recitative. 
As well as the CD demonstrating the 2003 Westenfelder organ in the Abbey of Sankt Lambrecht, Austria (reviewed 
Music by Scheidemann, Bach, Frescobaldi, Boëlly, Arauxo, Ximénez, Brahms, Froberger, Buxtehude.
Although Bach is something of a God-like figure for me, I think he would be rather scary to actually meet. I have often felt that I would love to have sat at a nearby table where I could overhear Bach, but would rather actually meet and converse with Haydn. The pieces on this CD demonstrate something of those aspects of Haydn’s character that make him appear so approachable. Amongst the first works that Haydn wrote after his 1761 arrival at the Esterházy court were the three symphonies based on the times of the day – Le main, Le midi and Le soir. Many players in the orchestra were already friends of his from Vienna, and these three symphonies were an inspired calling card for their new musical director, with most of the players given key solo moments. 
For years now Andreas Scholl has had the ability to fill stadia and opera houses, although his singing usually seems more suited to smaller spaces. He is often derided by opera critics for the comparatively low volume of his voice, although I often think that he has it about right, and the others sing too loudly, at considerable cost to their voices. But in the compact environment of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (the Shakespeare Globe’s reconstruction of a Jacobean theatre), he had no fear of being thought too quiet.
The 30th St John’s, Smith Square Christmas Festival ended on 23 December with the traditional Messiah, with Stephen Layton directing Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The evening before saw what has become another tradition, the appearance of the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (where Stephen Layton is Director of Music), also with the OAE. I missed their concert last year, but I think it was the same work with the same group of soloists (Katherine Watson soprano, Iestyn Davies countertenor, Gwilym Bowen tenor, Neal Davies, bass). Although it lacks the seasonal element of Messiah, it is an extraordinary and uplifting work, whatever your belief in the words and sentiments might be. It also has an fascinating history, reflecting insights into Bach’s character and emotional response to his own compositions. Part of that complex history is that Bach never called it the B minor Mass, only part of it is actually in B minor, and he never heard it performed. 
Returning for their fifth visit to the St John’s, Smith Square Christmas Festival, the Solomon’s Knot Baroque Collective presented a concert based on Advent and Christmas music from Leipzig, with pieces by the three successive Thomaskantor’s. The seating in St John’s was reconfigured from the usual facing-the-stage layout to one where the orchestra and choir were to one side, projecting about two-thirds of the way into the floor space, with the audience arranged on three sides. This was undoubtedly excellent for about one-third of the audience who found themselves sitting directly in front of them, but most of the audience had only a side (or a rear-end view) of the performers. 
After a short tour in The Netherlands, the Tallis Scholars brought their programme of music by Thomas Tallis, Arvo Pärt and John Sheppard to St John’s, Smith Square as part of the SJSS 30th annual Christmas festival. Tallis’s Missa Puer natus est nobis (based on the introit for the Mass of Christmas Day) were threaded through the programme, but it opened with Arvo Pärt’s 1988 Sieben Magnificat Antiphonen and 1989 Magnificat in recognition of Pärt’s 80th anniversary. 
Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, A New Year Carol;
One of the musical traditions of German Lutheran church music was the sacred cantata or motet addressed directly to God, often in a conversational style, with a response to the plea coming either from God or, more frequently, from Jesus or other believers. This CD explores several examples of this genre, with a focus on the composer Andreas Hammerschmidt, given an overdue bit of exposure. Although he was well known in his day, and composed more than 400 works, his music is not often performed today. It is in a relatively simple style, in comparison with his contemporaries, and shows the gradual development of a true German Baroque style, built on the influence of Italian models. Five of his vocal works are included here, together with an instrumental Pavane. 
As part of the 30th annual St John’s, Smith Square Christmas Festival, Ensemble Plus Ultra contributed a programme of Advent and Christmas music from Spain, England, and Germany. The rather curious opening had three female singers on stage, while five men approached down the two side aisles, deconstructing the Advent chant Veni, veni Emmanuel by passing it between all three groups. The rest of the first half was a very effective interspersing of Victoria’s 1600 Missa Ave Regina caelorum with Byrd’s 1607 five-part Propers for Lady Mass during Advent. This was preceded by Victoria’s 1581 double choir setting of the Missa Ave Regina caelorum antiphon, upon which the parody mass was based. Although the 
The Queen’s College, Oxford is probably best known in carol singing circles for The Boar’s Head Carol, sung every year as a processional at the start of the centuries-old feast held on the Saturday before Christmas, and known as ‘Gaudy’. But in a delightful mix of well-known and other carols, this CD also reflects other carols and composers connected with The Queen’s College. These include Kenneth Leighton (Lully, lulla, though little tiny child), Herbert Howells (A Spotless Rose, Sing Lullaby), Harold Darke (In the bleak midwinter), Ivor Atkins (The Three Kings), and Reginald Jacques, the latter the compiler (with David Wilcocks) of Carols for Choirs, extracts from which form a key part 
The “Grand Prix Bach de Lausanne” organ competition has taken place every four or five years since 1997, although the actual ‘Grand Prix’ has only been awarded on two of the four previous occasions. The stated intention of the competition is to attract talented organists from all over the world who are passionate about the music of Bach, his predecessors, precursors and his contemporaries. Competitors are told that they need to be able to express the specific language of each style of organ music, and will be judged as to their musicality, choice of registration, technique, quality and order of the programme, style, and originality. Unusually for such competitions, there are no age limits. This is a big investment for the competitors. They are expected to be in Lausanne for up to eight days (arriving three days before the first round), and have to pay their own travel and accommodation costs, as well as a registration fee of 200 Swiss Francs. Unless they live locally, only those winning one of the three main prizes can hope to recover their costs.
The second of the two festival concerts that I attended was in direct contrast to Messiah: a concert of Bach solo violin music in the intimate surroundings, and attractive acoustic, of the Église de Villamont. Playing the first and third Sonatas and the second Partita, Christine Busch demonstrated a sure grasp of the Bach violin idiom, despite playing what seemed to be a modern violin – or, at least, a violin with what appeared to be a modern set up, complete with tuning aids, chin and shoulder rests, a long finger board, and high bridge.
When I last visited the Lausanne Bach Festival many years ago, it consisted of nine concerts over a long weekend. In its current incarnation (the eighteenth), it is spread over the period from 25 October to 28 November, with six concerts, three informal ‘Bach Days’, a short conference, and, on this occasion, the 5th International Organ Competition. Although having the events spread out in this way probably attracts more local residents, it makes it a less practical attraction for people from outside Switzerland. I was principally there to review the Organ Competition (reviewed 
For their Spitalfields Festival debut, The Marian Consort brought their programme ‘Christmas with the Shepherds’ (based on last year’s CD release) to St Leonard’s, Shoreditch at the conclusion of a national tour. In a very well conceived and planned programme, they traced the influence of Jean Mouton on composers of the following century, notably Cristóbel de Morales, whose Missa Quaeramus cum pastoribus formed the nucleus of the programme. After the opening motet Alma Redemptoris Mater by Victoria, the latest of the composers represented, we heard Mouton’s motet Quaeramus cum pastoribus, a work that stayed in the repertoire of the Sistine Chapel for more than 100 years and survives in 27 manuscripts and printed sources now to be found as far apart as Aberdeen and Guatemala. It is the best known of a series of ‘Noë’ motets found in the Sistine Chapel archive, the result of the Medici Pope Leo X whose after-dinner entertainment 
The marriage between the Queen Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain only lasted from 1554 to Mary’s death in 1558, but the resulting musical influence lasted for many years, as demonstrated in this concert from the vocal group Chapelle du Roi. Amongst the musicians that Philip brought with him to England was Philippe de Monte, director of the Spanish Chapel Royal. He seems to have met the young William Byrd during his few months in England. Many years later, after the 1583 execution of Mary Queen of Scots and the crushing of a Catholic revolt, de Monte wrote his motet Super flumina Babylonis (‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land’) and sent it to Byrd. De Monte set four verses from the Psalm (137), and Byrd’s response was to write his own setting of de Monte’s final verse, adding a further three verses, and sending this motet, Quomodo Cantabimus, to de Monte. These two pieces 
CD 2, the ‘Sorrowful Mysteries’ (Sonatas VI-X), are recorded in Kaltenlengsfeld, next door to Friedelshausen, where CD 1 was recorded, south of the Bach town of Eisenach in Thuringia. The organ dates from 1755 and has, for Thuringian organs, a rather unusual configuration with a Ruckpositive. It is positioned above the altar in what appears to be almost a separate space from the main church volume, beyond a low arch and in a small space – presumably this explains the configuration, which takes up less vertical space. The recording is made fairly close to the organ, but still includes the acoustic bloom from the rest of the space. The violin 
Arvo Pärt provided a link between the earlier B’Rock/Julia Doyle concert and the later evening programme of a capella ‘Songs from the Northern Lands’ given by the Choir of Royal Holloway College. They opened with Pärt’s mesmerising Magnificat, the verse sections evolving around a high and long-held soprano note, and contrasting with fuller-textured passages. A similar drone note was at the core of Rihards Dubra’s ‘A child’s prayer’, again with a soprano solo. Vytautas Miškinis’s Oi šala, šala uses the ‘sh’ sound of ‘šala’ to invoke the sense of shivering in the frost. It is performed with three remote female voices (with noisy shoes!) echoing each other, a soprano solo and an almost inaudible little bell that reinforced the end of phrases. 
Corelli: Concertos grosso Op6/4 and Op6/8 ‘Christmas Concerto’; Handel: Gloria; Arvo Pärt arr Frank Agsteribbe: Fratres; A Scarlatti: Cantata ‘O di Betlemme altera’
The English Concert was reduced to one of its smallest formations with just four instrumentalists plus tenor Mark Padmore for their Wanamaker Playhouse concert, based on Charles Burney’s writings on music. In 1770 and 1772, Burney (painting by 
Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews + 