Elizabeth Blumenstock

 

This is someone I know. I know her as the concert mistress of American Bach Soloists, a group I very much admire.  Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin, is performing Nicola Matteis Jr: Fantasia and Thomas Baltzar: A Prelude for the Violin.

Messiah from San Francisco

This is a performance of Handel's Messiah from Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco, by the American Bach Soloists.  They are the original instruments ensemble I visit regularly in Davis, but they perform Messiah only in Grace Cathedral, which is a bit far away for me.  They are seriously striving for an authentic style, and I think the effort here was very successful.  If you are not getting enough Messiah, I recommend this one.  Disclaimer--there is no historical basis for using a countertenor to replace the alto solo.  This is my usual complaint.

ABS Orphean Enchantments

This is sort of a bad news entry.  I have been driving to Davis to see the American Bach Soloists since I moved to Sacramento.  My first entry, I believe, was in 2013.  I was happy about the fact that they played mostly Bach and in excellent style.  I attended performances of the St John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion, the Magnificat, the B Minor mass, Brandenberg Concertos, Orchestral Suites, etc.  That's a lot of Bach.  Occasionally other things appeared.

Well, Monday they performed only one piece by Bach:  Concerto in A Minor for Harpsichord, flute, violin, Strings and Basso Continuo.  Well, that sounds like a concerto grosso to me.  That's a small group of soloists who play both with and without the larger group of strings.  It was just ok.

In addition they played some pieces with Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, a countertenor.  I have recently warmed up to countertenors, but would always prefer to hear a female mezzo.  Oh well.  I wish I liked him better.  He sang:

Vivaldi's Stabat Mater
Buxtehude's Jubilate Domino omnis terra
Johann Christoph Bach's Lamento
Hoffmann's Schlage doch, gewuenswchte Stunde [previously attributted to Bach.]

This is the first time I have not enjoyed one of their concerts.  Part of this is old age which makes it exhausting to drive to Davis.  The conductor Jeffrey Thomas said that they would be doing less Bach this season.  They would teach us to enjoy other things.  I have only gotten really enthusiastic about their Bach.  That's why I'm here.

American Bach Soloists 2019-20

27-Jan-20	D	7:00	Orphean Enchantments ABS	Davis Community Church
30-Mar-20	D	7:00	Schuetz, Bach, etc. ABS	Davis Community Church
11-May-20	D	7:00	Sweet Harmony ABS	Davis Community Church

These are the American Bach Soloists concerts in Davis.  I'm happy to see Schuetz.

American Bach Soloists Matthew Passion

And last night I drove to Davis in the rain to see Bach's Saint Matthew Passion sung in German.  For the beautiful work of the American Bach Soloists led by Jeffrey Thomas this is a short trip.

In my youth I performed a lot of Bach, including the "Erbarme dich" from this work.  I very much admired the performance of mezzo-soprano Agnes Vojtko who sang it here.  The entire piece lies in my heart like a buried treasure.

A performance of this monumental, life altering work rises and falls with the evangelist, here Guy Cutting, and the singer who performs Jesus, here William Sharp, both excellent in their roles.

With American Bach Soloists there are no weaknesses.  The original instruments orchestra lists the makers of all the instruments below the players' names.  The concert mistress Elizabeth Blumenstock plays a Guarneri.  The style is perfection, and how can anyone resist the tiny booming chorus.

Thank you.

American Bach Soloists in Davis

I enjoyed this concert by the American Bach Soloists in Davis on Monday very much.  Above is their conductor Jeffrey Thomas.  This concert consisted of 2 Brandenburg Concertos, No.1 and No.3, and The Hunting Cantata.  One reason for loving this group is because in addition to calling themselves after Bach they also play a lot of Bach.  In this case the entire concert was Bach.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major began the concert.  Of the two concertos this one was the less familiar.  I believe it was chosen because it includes two parts for natural horns which appear again in The Hunting Cantata.  Elizabeth Bloomenstock, the concert mistress, was also a soloists here.

Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G Major, a very familiar work, orchestrated for three violins, three violas and 3 cellos with continuo, completed the first half.  All 9 designated parts perform as soloists   It is an unusual orchestration both for Bach and for the world at large.  Bach was always trying to stretch himself.

Apparently it is the habit of this group to add movements to established works. Brandenburg No.3 has only two movements, but an allegro from a trio sonata transcribed from an organ piece was inserted between the other two movements.  The players reorganized themselves.  The complex concerto was well played.

For me the treat of this concert came after the intermission:  The Hunting Cantata, a work written to praise the Margrave of Brandenburg Schwedt.  The Margrave was named Christian, a word that appears several times in the text.  I found it interesting that they would use his first name.  Apparently he was much loved and enjoyed hunting.  The hit tune from this work I had not heard before is "Sheep may safely graze." 

The performance began with the Allegro from Oboe Concerto in F Major featuring the oboist Stephen Bard?  The vocal soloists were:

• Hélène Brunet soprano (Pales)
• Julie Bosworth soprano (Diana)
• Derek Chester tenor (Endymion)
• Mischa Bouvier baritone (Pan)

The Hunting Cantata is the most cheerful and lively piece by J.S. Bach I have ever heard.  It is fun and was of course very well performed.

American Bach Soloists 2018-19

22-Oct-18	D	7:00	Bach Brandenburgs ABS	Davis Community Church
18-Feb-19	D	7:00	Favorite Bach Camtatas ABS	Davis Community Church
25-Mar-19	D	7:00	Matthew Passion ABS	Davis Community Church
6-May-19	D	7:00	Bach Brandenburgs ABS	Davis Community Church

These are the American Bach Soloists concerts in Davis.

Bach Orchestral Suites

American Bach Soloists performed all four of Bach's orchestral suites on Monday in Davis in the order IV, II, I, III.  This seems to be their groove.

II was scored as a transverse flute solo which was played by Sandra Miller.  It was rather like a concerto in the form of a suite.  It was gorgeous.

This completed their season.  See you next year.

Monteverdi Vespers

Jeffrey Thomas conductor

For the last several years I have been attending performances in Davis of the American Bach Soloists led by Jeffrey Thomas.

St. John Passion in Davis

 

Jeffrey Thomas conductor

Remember when I said about the motets concert by American Bach Soloists last April, "Choosing to play all of them on one program would have to do with generating a CD, probably." You probably don't remember it. Well now there is a CD called Bach's Motets for Double Chorus from American Bach Soloists based on the this concert.  It was an easy prediction.

American Bach Soloists do Bach Motets

Jeffrey Thomas conductor

Motets

Bach: Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir BWV 228
Bach: Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229
Bach: Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf BWV 226
Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 225

The program was filled out with 2 other recently attributed motets and 2 trio sonatas.Bach:

Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt  BWV Anh. 160

Weekend in Paris

American Bach Soloists presented a program of French Baroque music in Davis with Jeffrey Thomas conducting.  French music is not as known as German or Italian music of the same period, so for me this was a treat.  Only Rameau is familiar to me.  The program points out that the end of Lully's monopoly made this explosion of music possible.

Alexander's Feast in Davis

On Monday night, leap day, American Bach Soloists, conducted by Jeffrey Thomas, presented Handel's Alexander's Feast at the Davis Community Church in Davis.  I was somewhat confused by the program which interspersed the usual text references with Concerto listings.  So a concerto has words?  No no.  One hears that concerts in the long ago interspersed arias between movements of a symphony. 

American Bach in Davis

Conductor:  Jeffrey Thomas
Violin and Viola d'amore:  Elizabeth Blumenstock
Violin:  Cynthia Black
Countertenor:  Ian Howell
Cello:  Gretchen Claassen

The American Bach Soloists, who generally play in a church in Davis, are my favorite group in the greater Sacramento area.  They did not fail to please.

St Matthew Passion by ABS

The original instruments movement seems to be everywhere.  One of the fun things is to see such a wide variety of musical instruments.  In Monday night's performance in Davis by the American Bach Soloists of the Bach St. Matthew Passion, performed in German, there was a viola da gamba and wooden flutes.  Perhaps I should keep a list.

Acis and Galatea

 Corey Jamason (seated), Kyle Stegall (our Acis) and Nola Richardson (our Galatea)

Conductor:  Jeffrey Thomas

Galatea:  Nola Richardson
Acis:  Kyle Stegall
Damon:  Zachary Wilder
Polyphemus:  Mischa Bouvier

Handel's Acis [ACE-iss] and Galatea was originally devised as a one-act masque which premiered in 1718 [some of these words borrowed from Wikipedia].  I decided to use the Wikipedia description of this work because it is a bit difficult to pin down.  It isn't an opera.  Why?  In that period opera was in Italian.  The text here is in English by John Gay before he became famous for The Beggars Opera.  It's completely outside of Handel's oratorio period.  So we're going with masque, a popular form during the life of Henry Purcell whose work this somewhat resembles.  There is Purcell-like text painting, for instance.  There is no dancing.  Never mind.

I went last night to hear the American Bach Soloists perform Handel's Acis and Galatea.  For me they are the best classical group that appears anywhere near Sacramento.

And what a wonderful piece.  Who knew Handel could compose such fun, frolicking music?  The finale of Act I says, "Happy we!  What joys we feel!  What charms we see!" and a celesta suddenly appears to accompany the chorus.  This number was encored at the end.  Have I ever seen an encore at an orchestral concert in America?  They do it all the time in Italy.

Even the monster Polyphemus who appears in Act II to produce the sad ending is strangely charming.  Mischa Bouvier is one of my special favorites.  Why don't we see him in more places?  He sings, "Die, presumptuous Acis, die!" in a rather adorably savage way.  No, I can't explain it.  It's a love triangle.  I'm not sure what the character Damon is for.  He's like the voice of your mother in your ear telling you not to do bad things.

 

As a kind of prelude, Bach's Brandenburg Concert 4 was performed, with solos by Elizabeth Blumenstock (above) on violin, and Judith Linsenberg and Debra Nagy on recorders.

Everything they do is fabulous.  And Mary Wilson received a mention in Opera News best of 2014 in Laudate Pueri Dominum with American Bach Soloists (ABS).

American Bach

Our American Bach Soloists concert had a bigger chorus and a smaller orchestra. There was a violone which looks like a large viola da gamba with 6 strings. There was something called a taille which looked very much like an oboe da caccia. There were 4 other string players, an organist and three other double reeds.

The title of our concert was Bach's Legacy.

I
Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, Bach
Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Bach
Sechs Sprueche zum Kirchenjahr, Mendelssohn
Der Geist hilft unser Schwchheit auf, Bach

II
Fest-und Gedenksprueche, Brahms
Komm, Jesu, komm, Bach
Komm, Jesu, Komm, Sandstroem
Verleih uns Frieden, Bach
Verleih uns Frieden, Mendelssohn
Komm, suesser Tod, Bach
Immortal Bach, Nystedt

The idea of the second half was to show a piece by Bach and then follow it with another later piece on the same text. This resulted in some fascinating contrasts, especially with the modern composers. The chorus is selected and trained for the music of Bach. I felt it worked very well for everything except Brahms whom I prefer in a more romantic style. Bach in our lives is basically due to Mendelssohn.

American Bach

I chose this photo because it was the only one I could find that shows Elizabeth Blumenstock, the concert mistress, even if it's only the back of her head.

They were terrific last night in Davis, as always, especially the double reeds:  Debra Nagy, Stephen Bard and Dominic Teresi.

ABS Magnificat

Last night I went to Davis to see the American Bach Soloists, an excellent Baroque ensemble.

American Bach Soloists

I selected this picture because it looks like the interior of the Davis Community Church where I attended a concert of the American Bach Soloists conducted by Jeffrey Thomas.  This is my second visit after the Bach St. John Passion.  You will notice that they are a tiny group who crowd onto the small stage of the church.  You might also notice that there is no theorbo.  This alone makes them interesting in the world of original instrument orchestras.  Even the Metropolitan Opera orchestra performing Giulio Cesare had a theorbo.  Visible in the picture is the very small organ they use for Bach.