A Moment of Bach

Magnificat (BWV 243): Esurientes

Bach's Magnificat tells the story of Mary's rejoicing and God's providence. In the lovely "Esurientes" alto aria with a duo of flutes, we hear God's bounty against the silence of the rich being turned away empty-handed. But how do we, or Mary, or Bach, cope with the ever-present staggering wealth inequality in human society? Admitting it and learning about it is a start. Mary was optimistic, and the least Bach can do with Mary's song is to highlight its joy and inherent fairness in a hopeful and positive way. At "He has filled the hungry with good things..." the melody rises; the song falls at "...and sent the rich away empty." At the very last note, someone will leave empty-handed. But we, the listener, will be musically enriched. 

Bach's Magnificat, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven -- this link takes you to the featured "Esurientes" movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsUWG2axB3w&t=1174s

Alto: Maarten Engeltjes

Flutes: Marten Root, Doretthe Janssens

Magnificat (BWV 243): Fecit potentiam

Nestled in the middle of Bach's setting of the Magnificat, we can find a moment of extreme tension -- a striking diminished chord, followed by silence, and then... instead of a resolution, Bach playfully subverts our expectations and gives us an even weirder dissonance, an augmented chord.  The choir and orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society, operating as always on a high level of musicianship, approach this moment with care -- the diminished chord, signifying the peoples' sin of arrogance, is given a few seconds to resound in the church... then, the next phrase, depicting the thoughts of the sinful heart, becomes immediately introspective and tormented.

Bach's Magnificat, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven -- this link takes you to the featured "Fecit potentiam" movement:

https://youtu.be/EsUWG2axB3w?t=928

Interview video with soprano soloist Hana Blažíková:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAV8CYGZd_U&t=0s

Wachet auf/St. Matthew (with Kian Ravaei)

Composer Kian Ravaei joins us this week as guest and shares with us the powerful spiritual connection points that Bach has made recently in his life in this interview.  Kian describes the power that the music of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (cantata 140), the St. Matthew Passion, and the collected chorales have had on him. We discuss the particular powers of Bach's music to move us spiritually, give us autonomy as a listener, inspire us to meaningfully create in times of hardship and times of grief, and guide us to compose with proper technique.

Thanks Kian for sharing your story with us on our podcast! 

As Kian notes, the "Wachet auf" cantata centers on the story of the wise and the foolish bridesmaids -- a parable about being ready. The bridesmaids (us) await the groom (Jesus Christ). The most famous moment is the middle chorale verse sung by the tenors, but at the end of this interview we will play for you the Netherlands Bach Society recording of the closing chorale which summarizes our interview and the meaningfulness of the chorales to us composers. 

Cantata 140: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZE54i-muE

St. Matthew Passion: https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ 

Chorale: Meine Seele erhebet den Herrn (BWV 324)

This breezy little two-line chorale doesn't seem like much, but it is Bach's setting of a tune that was very well known -- the German Magnificat.  This leads us down a rabbit hole of discussion about how this performance relates to BWV 10, a cantata that Bach based on this same tune.  We explore the tune and its psalm tone, and we delight in the way Bach sets the words "ewigkeit zu ewigkeit" (eternity to eternity) as continuous, neverending, rising figures in the choral parts.

Chorale Meine Seele erhebet den Herrn (BWV 324) performed by Young Bach Fellows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6ehSlK7ij8

Netherlands Bach Society performs BWV 10, a cantata based on this same psalm tone (Marcus Creed, conductor):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrSAMOojQ08

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4: movement 3

Episode 3 of our miniseries on Brandenburg 4.

How much of Bach's music is actually written on the page, and how much is worked out by the performers? What is actually left out of the music notation, and kind of training is needed to realize what's missing? If performers are going to slow down or speed up subtly during a performance, that is usually worked out by them; it is rarely notated in music this early. 

The final Presto of this concerto is a fugue so dense in energy and flow. Despite this, there is still a show-stopping feature for the solo violin, and we explore how Shunske Sato leads the group in slowing down and speeding up at the end of this feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZJ__GIbms&t=620s

That concludes this year's 3-episode miniseries on another Brandenburg Concerto!

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4: movement 2

Episode 2 of our miniseries on Brandenburg 4.

In this episode: JAZZ? We talk a bit about jazz harmony and how it shares some foundational chord progressions with baroque music.  We also pick apart a couple of measures from this twisty, moody movement, and we put them back together in a couple of different configurations, just like how Bach did it when he composed -- assembling the puzzle pieces to create the finished work, a machine of clockwork precision and beauty.

See movement 2 of Brandenburg 4, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, led by Shunske Sato:

https://youtu.be/oSZJ__GIbms?t=401

An article about Dr. Carolyn Bremer, whose advice Alex mentioned in the episode:

https://www.presstelegram.com/2018/09/04/cal-state-long-beach-mourns-death-of-prominent-music-professor/

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4: movement 1

Welcome to our miniseries on Brandenburg Concerto No. 4!  In this first episode, we will talk about the first movement.

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are considered by many to be the pinnacle of instrumental Baroque music.  Come and join us as we explore why. This episode explores the many small building blocks that come together to make the first movement of this concerto into something greater than the sum of its parts. Two agile recorders compete with a showy violin part, all accompanied by a background orchestra (which isn't really in the background). How can we pick a single moment from this dense kaleidoscope of musical devices? Let's look at several of those devices in this episode. 

Stay tuned for the next two episodes in this miniseries, where we explore movements 2 and 3. 

 

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major BWV 1049 as performed by Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZJ__GIbms

Ter Schegget and Sato on Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 BWV 1049 | Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKAPxpBlh3Q

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (organ chorale prelude, BWV 659)

Passed down to us through almost two millennia, the poem that would later become "Savior of the Nations, Come" was set to a plainchant melody in the Middle Ages, and that melody was given a strong, angular treatment by Martin Luther, who also adapted and translated the text.  A couple centuries later, it was Bach's turn to create something new from this storied hymn -- and he did, multiple times.  This organ prelude may be one of Bach's more austere arrangements of this hymn, but he couldn't help adding some clever complexity to it.

We talk about how an extended ending can add much-needed closure to a piece.  We also talk about how Bach is like a stained glass window -- colorful, complex, subtle, beautiful, illuminating core religious truths.

BWV 659 played by Leo van Doeselaar for the Netherlands Bach Society:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ANMpDoRow

Concerto for two violins in D minor (BWV 1043): 3rd movement

This is the second episode of our double-part look at the "Bach Double" violin concerto. In this episode, we hear how one moment of expressive subtlety can demonstrate the difference between "flashy fast notes" and true baroque emotion. A single "sighing" motif written as plain eighth notes demonstrates to us that the musicians of Bach's time were trained in a high art of ornamentation, and if they just played the notes on the page, the result would have fallen flat. 

Netherlands Bach Society performing the "Bach Double" (mvt. 3); Shunske Sato and Emily Deans, violin soloists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILKJcsET-NM&t=592s

Sato and Deans' interview on the piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwHOeTHMiGk

Concerto for two violins in D minor (BWV 1043): 2nd movement

Contrast -- a major aspect of all good art.  The striking colors of a sky at sunset, the thrilling first few notes of "Et resurrexit" from the Mass in B minor, or the shadowed look of a chiaroscuro painting -- all are much more powerful for the presence of sharp contrast.

In this episode we explore how Bach uses contrast in the sublime middle movement of the "Bach Double", otherwise known as the Concerto for two violins in D minor.  The interplay of the two soloists is tender and personal, with an almost empathetic quality.  

Netherlands Bach Society performing the "Bach Double"; Shunske Sato and Emily Deans, violin soloists:

https://youtu.be/ILKJcsET-NM?t=231

Clip from Mozart Requiem: Weiner Philharmoniker and Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, Decca, 1951, Creative Commons License Zero 1.0 (Universal Public Domain).