A DECADE OF BACH
Ma to help mark milestone
Will it be that bad? The second motet on the Hymns of Winter program presented by Daniel Taylor and his Trinity Choir on Nov. 25 is by Thomas Tallis. The title: Miserere Mei Deus.
Run that through Google Translate and you get “God have mercy on me.” Hymns of Winter indeed. Consider yourselves forewarned.
But as the darkness descends, just as surely does the Montreal Bach Festival arise. As usual, we will hear a wide variety of vocal and instrumental masterpieces by Bach or related composers, delivered in baroque or modern style or gradations in between.
This year we get not only the St. Matthew Passion as performed by the OSM under (generally early-music-minded) Kent Nagano, but also its most notable rival in the staggering-masterpiece stakes, the Mass in B Minor, performed by the visiting Choir of Trinity Wall Street under the direction of the (distinctly earlymusic-minded) Julian Wachner.
“The St. Matthew Passion is probably the closest that Bach got to composing an opera,” says festival artistic director Alexandra Scheibler, noting the Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and Dec. 4 in the Maison symphonique performances come with a staging by Alain Gauthier. Baritone Gordon Bintner, now playing Don Giovanni, takes a different role: Jesus.
The Mass is heard on Nov. 28 in the devotional setting of St. Jean Baptiste Church. Scheibler points out that Wachner was co-artistic director of the inaugural festival in 2005 along with the late Christopher Jackson, who led the Mass as the grand finale.
Boris Brott and the McGill Chamber Orchestra bring us the indestructible Brandenburg Concertos on Nov. 29 in Christ Church Cathedral. Modern instruments share the stage with a harpsichord (Luc Beauséjour) in No. 5 and recorders (Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière) in No. 4. The notoriously difficult trumpet solo of No. 2 goes to Stéphane Beaulac, formerly of the Orchestre Métropolitain and now of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who will use a modern piccolo instrument.
“We have mixture of modern and ancient,” Brott says. “The baroque trumpet? You’re really asking for trouble. The part is hard enough as it is. It doesn’t need any help.”
Common sense is important. Flutes and recorders sound different. The difference between trumpets is not so pronounced. At any rate, eclecticism can itself be viewed as a baroque trait.
“In those days, people weren’t so orthodox about voices and instruments,” Brott says. “Things were interchangeable. I don’t think there was this hoo-hah that we make today about which instruments we choose. So I go romantic when I feel like it, and baroque when I feel like it.”
Then there is a solo recital on Dec. 2 by a certain Yo-Yo Ma, who plays the Cello Suites No. 4, 5 and 6 in the Maison symphonique. This is the 10th anniversary of the festival. Did negotiations to bring Ma to Montreal begin a decade ago?
“Actually, he is one of the rare artists in the classical scene who do not plan so far ahead,” Scheibler says. “The anniversary had an impact on his decision to perform here this year.”
Fans of the solo violin music can hear selections (including the Chaconne) in the more intimate Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel as played by Alcan Quartet member Laura Andriani with assists by soprano Suzie LeBlanc, who performs chorales to which the movements are thought to
be related. (The thinking behind this is discussed on Nov. 25 in a conference at the Université de Montréal.)
Straight-up piano fans can try the Armenian-born American Sergei Babayan playing the Goldberg Variations on Nov. 18 (the opening concert of the festival) or the German-based Russian Konstantin Lifschitz performing a cycle of Partitas on Dec. 3. Both artists appear in Bourgie Hall. The Goldbergs also get an outing on the organ of St. Joseph’s Oratory by Beauséjour on Nov. 20.
Modern music is not banished. Les Violons du Roy under Mathieu Lussier bring together the Concerto No. 1 in D Minor with a concerto by Henryk Górecki obviously inspired by it. Iranian-American Mahan Esfahani is the harpsichordist on Nov. 25 in Bourgie Hall.
There are many other events. Scheibler notes Café Zimmermann, a French ensemble giving mixed programs on Nov. 26 and 27 at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. They are newcomers
to Montreal who, in her view, deserve a welcome.
“I had the opportunity as a child and a student in Germany to listen to ensembles and artists from all over the world,” Scheibler says. “I always thought of this as a very inspiring experience. It is important for us to bring ensembles from abroad.
“These are not names like Yo-Yo Ma, but our goal is to give our public the trust that all artists and ensembles who are invited to perform at the festival are absolutely worth it and exciting to have.”
The concert by Taylor and his Trinity Choir (a squad not to be confused with Wachner’s Trinity Wall Street group) in St. Leon Church in Westmount is one of two in the festival that are Bach-free (the other being the Nov. 22 program in Bourgie Hall of cantatas by Bach’s friendly rivals, Telemann and Graupner, performed by Les Idées Heureuses). Having enjoyed a success last year with a Sony album
titled Four Thousand Winter, Taylor has made a sequel called The Tree of Life, a compilation of mostly soothing works by the likes of Pärt, Britten and Tavener. Go to www.danieltaylor.ca.
And what about Handel? Bernard Labadie leads Les Violons du Roy in Messiah on Dec. 10 in the Maison symphonique. Details: www.violonsduroy.com. Brott and the McGill Chamber Orchestra present the oratorio on Dec. 13 at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul with the A& P choir: www.ocm-mco. org. But back to Bach. I Musici de Montréal under Jean-Marie Zeitouni will give the final three cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio on Dec. 13 and 14 in Bourgie Hall: www.imusici.com. And keep in mind that the Bourgie Hall cycle of Bach cantatas continues. On Nov. 27, it is the turn of the St. Lawrence Choir and Les Boréades under Philippe Bourque: click on concerts at www.mbam.qc.ca.
La Scena Musicale, the monthly magazine that gives you the what and the when (and even the why and the wherefore) of classical activity in Montreal, is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Nov. 24 in Salle Pierre Mercure. The “rising stars” program features soprano Chelsea Rus (O mio babbino caro), baritone Hugo Laporte (Largo al factotum), clarinetist David Dias da Silva (Debussy’s First Rhapsody) and violinist Joshua Peters (the first movement of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata with Philip Chiu). Pianist Emily Oulousian gives us Beethoven, Chopin and Prokofiev. Pianos Caméléons, a duo of Matt Herskowitz and John Roney, do jazz riffs on classical motifs. Details: www.lascena.ca.