Music hall rings in new year with celebration of Bach
TROY, N.Y. » If you want to celebrate the coming of the new year, you have plenty to do the night before New Year’s Day. However, unless you like football there is little to do on New Year’s Day itself.
If you find that disappointing -- Troy can save the day.
It’s become a tradition for the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall to start the New Year by hosting Berkshire Bach Ensemble. The ensemble is a group of classically trained musicians who are dedicated to Baroque Music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
At 3 p.m. on Monday (New Year’s Day) they will once again offer the community “Bach at New Year’s” at the Troy Music Hall.
The concert will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Academy of Music in Northhampton, Mass.. and 6 p.m. Sunday at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass.
The group has been celebrating Bach on New Year’s since 1990 and perhaps the reason for longevity is its willingness to modify, adjust and improve its approach to the annual concert. Not that long ago, the New Year’s concert material was restricted to only the Brandenburg Concertos. This year the presentation appears to be even broader with work by Mozart, Purcell, Boyce and even Bartok.
This is the first year the ensemble is led by Eugene Drucker, a long-time member of the Ensemble and a founder of the Emerson String Quartet. Drucker replaces Kenneth Cooper, who retired after last year’s concert. Drucker has vowed to continue the lively, assertive and joyous themes of the music the group traditionally offers, but he also seems to want to expand the group’s approach to the music of the era.
As proof of this approach, Drucker will perform a solo with Mozart’s buoyant Turkish Concerto - Violin Concerto in A Major - K.136. Indeed the entire program (listed below) seems designed to be a sophisticated relaxing afternoon. • Mozart: Divertimento in D Major, K. 136 • William Boyce: Symphony No. 1 in B flat Major for oboes and strings. • Purcell: Chacony and Fantasias; Cebell and Fanfare; The Faerie Queen Prelude and Celebration • Mozart: Violin Concerto in A Major — K. 219 (the Turkish – Drucker soloist) • Bartok: Duos for Two Violins, Sz. 98: New Year’s Greetings • Telemann: Concerto in D Major for Four Violins — TWV 40:202 • J.S. Bach: Contrapunctus #9 from The Art of the Fugue. • Mozart-Bach: Five fugues for String Quartet from The Well-Tempered Clavier • J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major — BWV 1066 Bach at New Year’s, 3 p.m., Monday, Jan. 1 at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy. Tickets $29-$59. Call (518) 273-0038 or log on to troymusichall.org.