Word: cantatas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...personnel; Bach's optimum number was less than half that. The Bach Choir's is a modern one, a product of the great symphonies after 1800. Between Bach's time and our own, instruments were generally engineered to be louder and more precise in pitch. Those listening to a cantata in the 1730's were not steeped in a tradition of massive sound; the scale of volume-production then was a fraction of what it is now. The result is a real-scale performance of old music that may sound hopelessly small to many listeners. The Richter approach presents Bach...
...frame draped with a mini-toga, is a troubled centurion. And there, amid crosses, a sepulcher, live olive trees and fake grass on Stage 4 in NBC's Burbank studio, is the real superstar of the $150,000 Easter special, waiting for the 40-minute semi-rock "cantata" to conclude. At a signal from the producer, the tape rolls. Oral Roberts beams a broad, benign smile into the camera's red eye and speaks: "In this space age, many people are discontented. They're concerned about Jesus Christ. Is Christ...
Another first for concert performance was the Karl Kohn Madrigal (1966). The accompanist was none other than Nils Vigeland who is an excellent pianist. In addition to the modern music, the Chorale sang two short Monteverdi works and the Bach Cantata No. 131. All three were marred by weak soloists, unable to project and unvarying in tone. Still, it would be foolish as well as unkind to chastise the Grad Chorale for their work; one can only hope that in the future their quality will come up to the level of their enthusiasm...
...GREY LADY CANTATA. Huge papier-mâché puppets do a silent, hierophantic dance of death, as if Picasso's Guernica were unfolding in slow motion...
...only flaw in programming was the dull Bach Cantata No. 51. Not even a magnificent trumpet obbligato part could redeem the initial aria. Joan Heller, the soprano soloist,' has a beautiful voice remarkable for its evenness. Her diction was good and one could only wish for more variation in dynamics. It was a mistake to use a harpsichord against the full string body: Gerald Moshell pushed the instrument as much as possible and all it produced was a distracting non-tonal jangle. With smaller forces, though, it was quite adequate; and the continuo playing included some appropriate ritards...