Tage Alter Musik – Almanach 2019

musicians which featured the harp player Maria Cleary playing her harp while carry- ing it horizontally on her shoulder. Their programme drew on music from archives in Puebla (Mexico), Antigua (Guatemala), Bo- gota (Colombia), Cordoba (Argentina), Lima and Cuzco (Peru) and Sucre (Bolivia). With six singers and 11 instrumentalists playing violins, recorders, cornetts, dulzian, guitars, harp, dulcian, bass, harpsichord and percussion, they produced an enticing range of tone colours in Villancicos, Folias españo- las and Canarios by Juan de Araujo, Tomás de Torrejón and Velasco, José de Orejón and Aparicio, Alonso Torice, Santiago de Murcia, Juan García de Zéspedes, Domenico Zipoli and Roque Jacinto de Chavarría. Yet again, the influence of Ex Cathedra was apparent in their choice of pieces and interpretations. The Tage Alter Musik Regensburg festival finished as it began, in the St Emmeram Basilica, this time with the Italian group La Risonanza directed by Fabio Bonizzoni. Their programme of music by Dietrich Bux- tehude and Johann Sebastian Bach started with Buxtehude’s 1680 Cantata cycle Mem- bra Jesu nostri. This cycle is a meditation on the feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart and face of the crucified Christ in seven cantatas, each with similar form. The sixth cantata uses the evocative sound of a consort of vi- olas da gamba, while the rest use two violins and continuo. The two violinists, Carlo Laz- zaroni and Fabio Ravasi, were particularly effective, as was the principal viola da gamba continuo (who I guess from the programme was Noelia Reverte Reche) who also had some virtuoso moments in the following Bach cantata. Bach’s cantata Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich dates from around 1707/8 and is one of Bach’s earliest known church cantatas. It opens with a short Sinfonia, with a descend- ing chromatic theme, which continues into the first chorus. It is scored for the small forces of two violins, bassoon and basso con- tinuo. The second aria is a vocal trio over a rapid viola da gamba bass, which leads to a chorus over a rocking bassoon bass, here played by Anna Maria Barbaglia. The final chorus is a chaconne, reversing the opening descending motif. It inspired Brahms in the last movement of his 4th Symphony. The whole cantata is a fascinating, if rather un- usual piece, by the standard of later cantatas. Of the four vocal soloists, the most success- ful was tenor Raffaele Giordani. I was not so happy with the other singers, particularly the sopranos and alto whose voices seemed un- stable at times, with excessive vibrato and in- tonation issues. The instrumentalists, in con- trast, were excellent, as was the pacing of Fabio Bonizzoni’s direction. And so concluded the 35th festival. Hard work for a reviewer, with so many concerts to cover in four days, but very rewarding for the impressively large audiences. Although there were the usual musical and perfor- mance highlights, some of the concerts this year were not up to the high standards of previous festivals. Most concerts were sold out, even in the largest venues and the latest times. As well as the concerts, there was the traditional exhibition of music, CDs, and in- struments in the historic Salzstadel adjoin- ing the Stone Bridge over the Danube. Next year’s Tage Alter Musik is from 29 May to 1 June 2020. Last year I mentioned the annual appearance of the embarrassing, thoughtless and irritat- ing collector of autographs who hunts down performers immediately after the perfor- mance, following them into their dressing rooms and asking for repeat copies of their autograph. Bizarrely, he demands five or more signatures from many of them. He clearly wasn’t put off by my mentioning him and was back. I wonder if he ever considers the musicians who have spent many hours travelling, rehearsing and performing? Or the friends and audience members who would also like to speak to the performers without him taking up their valuable time. At the end of the first late-night event, he fol- lowed a couple of singers down the aisle de- spite it being well past midnight and very ob- vious that they were leaving in a hurry. With admirable patience, they eventually gave in to his demands and stopped. Did he not think that they wanted to get to their hotel and well-earned sleep? He might not have known, and they were too polite to tell him, that they had to leave their hotel at 4am in order to catch the flight to their next gig. I strongly suggest that the festival manage- ment put a stop to this in future years. Apart from being grossly insensitive, it is unfair to the musicians, and to others who want to en- gage with them. andrewbensonwilson.org 13 L’Harmonie des Saisons in der St.-Oswald-Kirche Le Caravansérail und Rachel Redmond im Reichssaal