Word: cantatas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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DUNSTER HOUSE LIBRARY. Bach: Cantata Es ist genugn, and two ricercares from the Musical Offering. Free. Friday, November...
Neither of the first two arias in Cantata #80 are exceptional pieces. David Buchner negotiated a painfully difficult bass part with good control. The string ensemble accompanying him was sharply attentive to dynamics: filling out in their tutti passages and quickly dropping back during the singers' sections...
...brass choir also played well, allowing for the inevitable slips with such instruments. The raw power of brass and timpani gives them a sound that instantly captures an audience's attention. The chorale in the middle of the cantata was a good display of the near-infinite variety of Bach's accompaniments. That they were invented solely to alleviate the boredom of the same old hymn tunes is forgotten in their individual splendor...
Ferris took the final chorale, which was sung by the congregation as well as choir, at a slow tempo. It brought the cantata to a measured, dignified close. The cantata was a moving experience, in part because of its contribution as a religious statement within the Evensong's framework, but more as a purely musical success...
...only disappointments of the program were the Buxtehude setting of Ein feste Burg, an uninspired set of variations, and the postlude, the brilliant Sinfonia from Bach's Cantata #29 known in solo violin, solo organ, full orchestral, and Moog synthesizer versions. The Sinfonia was played brightly by strings and brass only to be let down by the organ. There was not enough bass registration to carry through the Church--in part, a design flaw of the Fisk instrument--but even the upper voices were too thin to compete with such a healthy orchestra. Coupled with a number of fingering lapses...