Bach is one of the most feted composers of the whole classical – baroque, to be precise – music shebang. And quite rightly so.
During his – for those days – long years on terra firma, the German organist and composer churned out hundreds of charts spread across numerous formats, including chamber music, masses, chorales, and cantatas.
The last named feature in one of the leading slots of this year’s Bach Festival, the eighth edition of which takes place at various locations around the country through March 23. The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra (JBO) serves in its perennial role as a house ensemble, with conductor and keyboardist David Shemer, as always, acting as artistic director of the program.
Three hundred thirty-nine years after Bach’s birth, his oeuvre continues to be a mainstay of the classical music scene, and his material still finds its way into all kinds of sonic pursuits, including pop, jazz, and even more ethnically inclined areas.
All of that and more are reflected in the festival program, which encompasses sacred music, for which Bach is possibly best known, along with secular creations and jazz- and world music-leaning renditions.
This comes courtesy of irrepressible pianist Omri Mor, who, over the past decade and a half, has gained an international reputation for fusing jazz with Andalusian music, as well as feeding off his classical roots.
Exciting festival coming up
His recital at the festival, at the YMCA in Jerusalem on March 21 (8 p.m.), will wend its way from Bach to Gershwin and original music that takes in elements of “jazz, world music, and more.”
Shemer has lined up a quality roster of instrumentalists and vocalists for this week’s run-out, with several artists making the trek over here for the occasion.
Richard Eresch is no stranger to this part of the world. “This is my 12th visit,” he informs me as I express my favorable impression of his use of some basic Hebrew phrases and words. “I’m always very happy to come back,” he adds.
In fact, the German tenor was around for the inaugural edition of the festival and has been invited back here on a regular basis ever since. Clearly, the singer’s efforts have been appreciated here, both by his onstage colleagues and the festival patrons.
The first of Resch’s contributions to the program sees him fill a starring spot in the “With Drums & Trumpets” festival centerpiece, which gets four airings (March 19-22) in Rehovot, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv.
Interestingly, the program focuses on two festive secular cantatas. That offers generous room for expression as Resch joins forces with the JBO, led by seasoned English conductor Paul Goodwin, and with a top-notch roster of fellow vocalists, such as British alto Hamish McLaren, Dutch-Israeli soprano Keren Motseri and Israeli bass singer Guy Pelc. Their efforts will be underscored by a foursome of choir soloists.
A bright, melodic, and percussive listening experience is in store as various instrumentalists get to showcase their virtuosic skills, in particular the trumpet and drum players. That is only to be expected as the musicians get to grips with a work titled “Tönet, ihr Pauken!” (Sound, You Drums) and another called “Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten” (Arise, Blaring Tones of Lively Trumpets).
Resch is certainly looking forward to the concerts. “It is the first time we do that [secular works] here together. I actually always wanted to sing those cantatas,” he confesses. “They are so rarely done. I am really happy to have the chance.”
I wondered whether the non-sacred subject matter allows more stylistic wriggle space. The tenor says it is an opportunity for him and his counterparts to spread their wings a little within the Bach fold.
“You are constricted [by religious practice considerations]. I am not an institutional religious person, but you still have to treat the works with respect because it means a lot to religious people.”
The secular nature of the repertoire brings Resch et al. into a very different musical and thematic domain. In stylistic terms, the two works are considered to be the closest Bach got to delving into operatic endeavor. The tenor says the textual aspect also leads the artists into more accommodating and left-field climes.
A look inside Bach's creations
“With Bach’s secular pieces, they are always a little bit strange, text-wise,” Resch chuckles. “Baroque poetry has, sometimes, a different vocabulary, and grammar-wise, and the expressions.”
He isn’t joking. Take, for example, the recitative section of “Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompete,” which translates as: “The green banks now perceive, at once a new power, and doubled inward brisk nectars.”
The end-user aspect may have something to do with the lyric bent. “Those cantatas were dedicated to the king of Saxony in Poland, and to the queen. So it is very flowery. As you say, they are painting honey around their faces.”
Now, that’s an expression!
Presumably, that means that Resch can have fun with his vocal delivery and introduce ornamentation to the works. The tenor concurs, with a caveat or two.
“With Bach, it’s never easy, because he never allows you a lot of space for ornamentation. He is very strict with how he writes. But, of course, you can also put a bit of irony into it because, you know, you don’t get decapitated for that anymore for putting Her Majesty into irony,” Resch laughs.
Resch will also be center stage in the festival finale at the YMCA on March 23 (8 p.m.). The “Who is Like unto Thee in Heaven” concert sees the German tenor join up with the JBO to perform works by some of Bach’s predecessors, including Danish organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude, Danish-German organist, violinist, and composer Nicolaus Bruhns, German composer and critic Johann Mattheson, and German composer Gottfried Philipp Flor. This brings us back into ecclesiastical quarters and also, intriguingly, offers some insight into some of Bach’s sources of inspiration and how he got to create such intricate and enduringly popular material.
“There is a story of how Bach made a pilgrimage, walking up to the north to meet Buxtehude and listen to him,” Resch notes. “This is, of course, a very special thing for me and for others."
The performance is also a rare opportunity for Bach aficionados and admirers to better understand what made the venerated baroque composer tick. “Some of these works are now going to be premiered in Israel,” says Resch.
“It’s a very nice thing to be able to introduce the people [in Israel] to new music.” Mind you, some of us may have already caught an earful or two of the tenor’s take on the pre-Bach works on his November 2022 release Wenn ich nur Dich hab.
Resch says he aims to convey a sense of life affirmation here, in these troubled times, and provide us with some of the subtext to the expansive Bach oeuvre. “There are so many layers with Bach. We [musicians] always take small steps, and we never stop learning about Bach. Even when I perform something 20 or 30 times, I am always learning something new – the depth of the material and all that is hidden in his works, like all the numbers, philosophy, mathematics, harmony, instruments, and symbolism. It is endless. He was a genius. We can bow down daily to this monument of Bach.”
Enough said. Time to give an ear.
For tickets and more information: (02) 671-5888, *6119, and www.jbo.co.il
