Orchestra of St. Luke’s Bach Festival Day Three

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 28 June 2024 10:17

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Richard Termine.

At Zankel Hall on the night of Tuesday, June 25th, I had the great privilege to attend this year’s extraordinary third of three amazing concerts in the Orchestra of St. Luke’s annual Bach Festival, under the outstanding direction of the conductor and celebrated fortepianist, Kristian Bezuidenhout.

The event began splendidly with a superb account of Johann Christian Bach’s marvelous Symphony in G minor, Op. 6, No. 6, W.C 12. In a useful note for the program, Steven Jude Tietjen commented as follows: 

Christian's Symphony No. 6 in G minor was written for and first performed at one of the Bach-Abel concerts in 1770, along with the five other symphonies comprising his Opus 6. It's considered by many scholars to be one his most dramatic and ambitious symphonies, recalling the tempestuous and exciting Sturm und Drang style of his contemporary, Joseph Haydn, with his own refinement and expressive theatricality.

The opening Allegro is suspenseful while the ensuing slow movement—markedAndante più tosto adagio—is grave in mood but surprisingly forceful, and the Allegro molto finale is propulsive and intense. 

Also excellent was an outstanding performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s magnificent Fugue in 3 subjects fromThe Art of the Fugue,BWV 1080, presented here in an astonishing arrangement for strings. The annotator explains: 

J. S. Bach'sThe Art of the Fugue,a collection of fourteen fugues and four canons, is a testament to the composer's endless imagination and inventiveness. Each piece is based on the same theme in D minor that is then transformed through seemingly infinite permutations, repetitions, reversals, and embellishments. This Fugue in 3 subjects was unfinished when Bach died and is often included as the fourteenth fugue in the collection. 

The first half of the evening closed memorably with a sterling version of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s wonderful Piano Concerto in D minor, Wq. 17, H. 420 featuring Bezuidenhout as soloist. A dynamic Allegro precedes a lyrical slow movement—with an Un poco adagio tempo—concluding exhilaratingly and virtuosically with another Allegro.

The second part of the program was comparable in power, starting with an awesome realization of C.P.E. Bach’s exquisite Symphony for Strings in C Major, Wq. 182, No. 3, H. 659. The initial movement (Allegro assai) is vibrant and ingenious while the succeeding, solemnAdagiois arrestingly strong in contrast. The Allegretto finale is animated and brisk in rhythm.

The concert ended delightfully with a fabulous rendition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s remarkably precocious Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271, the “Jenamy,” again with the conductor as soloist. The Allegro first movement is ebullient and sparkling. Next is a weighty, elevated, and serious Andantino that has a sense of urgency. The work finishes with an energetic and brilliant Rondo.

The artists were deservedly rewarded with enthusiastic applause.

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