Tage Alter Musik – Almanach 2016

Overture (TWV 55:B10) for three oboes, fa- gott, string and continuo, the players of Ba- rokkanerne relishing the different moods of the different movements, including the vige- rous Hornepipe, the graceful Menuet, the beautful Plainte, and the rapid-fire Combat- tants. The second half opened with the stri- king opening chord of Telemann’s Oboe Concert (TWV 51:c1). The more traditio- nally formated piece was played with inevi- table panache by Alfredo Bernardini. The two Bach cantatas were Vergnügte Ruh and Geist und Seele wird verwirret, both dating from 1726 and both featuring prominent organ parts. Vergnügte Ruh opens with one of Bach’s magically he- art-melting harmonic and melodic mo- ments, in this case for the oboe d’amore. As with so many of his cantata arias, it is the in- strumental, rather than the vocal line, then tends to attract most attention. The second aria focusses on the sound of an obligato or- gan, its two intertwining voices pushing the boundaries of Bach’s supposed tuning to the limits. Written in the key of F# minor, the opening bar has the notes E#, B#, D# and A#, later joined by an F#. On this occasion the organ was tuned to a temperament that accented, rather than reduced, the intensity of these notes, and it seems that the other in- strumentalists could have done with a bit more rehearsal at matching that intona- tion. Geist und Seele wird verwirret is in a rather more friendly key, so intonation was much better. Marianne Beate Kielland excelled in her solo alto role. The organist, Christian Kjos, also did well in his tricky solo role in both canta- tas, particularly as Bach intended a two ma- nual church organ to be used, rather than the little one manual continuo organ that he had to cope with. Incidentally, St.- Oswald’s has the only historic organ in Regensburg in its west gallery, but I have never heard it used for the Tage Alter Musik festival. The main Saturday evening concert (in the Dreieinigkeitskirche) was given by the Dres- den Chamber Choir & Dresdner Barock- orchester , and focussed on the Psalms of David by Heinrich Schütz. Published in Dresden in 1619, the 26 sacred concerto on the Psalms are Schütz’s attempt to bring the Venetian polychoral tradition of his tea- cher Giovanni Gabrieli into the world of the German Protestant church. The Trinity Church was an appropriate venue, built just a few years later as a Protestant preaching church, and the burial place of many later Protestant visitors. Under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann, the nine solo- ists were supported by a choir of 18 and 22 instrumentalists, including 6 trombones, three cornetts, and two trumpets, 2 violins, 3 violas da gamba, and a continuo group of 2 theorbos, dulzian, violone and organ. The selection of 14 out of the 26 concertos was well chosen and well balanced, with con- trasts in texture and colour. Although the opening piece was a little uncoordinated, things settled down after that, with some fine singing from soloists and choir. I particularly liked Gerlinde Sämann, David Erler, Charles Daniels, and Lisandro Abadie. I confess that I confused the Minorites with the Dominicans and therefore turned up just in time for the Saturday 10.45pm concert, but at the wrong church. The correct one was on the opposite side of town so, with a developing cold, I took the chance to go to bed. So I missed La Compagnia del Madri- gale from Italy and their programme of ma- drigals by Gesualdo . But I am sure it was great. Sunday 15 May Sunday morning started in the Reichssaal with the viol consort L’Achéron from Lu- xembourg and their programme The Fruit of Love: English dance music by Anthony Holborne . They divided the pieces into four groups of five or six, applying contrast wit- hin, rather than between, the groups. Des- pite the temptations of the titles of the pieces, there didn’t seem to be any narritive to the groupings. As well as the five violas da gamba, there was a continuo group of lute and cittern, a crinkly-sided pandora and a andrewbensonwilson.org 7 Dresdner Kammerchor & Barockorchester Foto: Hanno Meier