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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
Rough Going March 15, 2002
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By John Demma Van Hagen
The venue for Friday's concert by the Arcangeli Baroque Strings — the First
Lutheran Church in Palo Alto — is in an interesting state of flux. The most noticeable juxtaposition as the concert commenced was the
constant reminder of the construction in the form of scaffolding, tarps and
other material that littered the stage. But there was soft beauty
also (a little harder to see through the mess) with the church lit by more
than thirty-two candles positioned on the ends of the pews, their light
emanating a softening purity from slender white spindles.
This also told the tale of the concert of the Arcangeli Baroque Strings:
there were more than a few gruff moments and the pure light of the
music shone dim at times. The concert — billed as "An Evening of Transfigured
Bach" featured the chamber music of J.S. Bach, some of which had been
edited and arranged for different instrumental combinations, either by the
composer or by others. Led by director/violinist Michael Sand, the string
ensemble performed a balanced concert of two concerti and two trio sonatas
by Papa Bach.
The twin concerti were by far the stronger parts of the
program, showing more of the ensemble's musical depth. The second piece
on the program was of considerable interest: an orchestration of the Third
Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, transcribed for solo violin and
harpsichord. The orchestration itself was adequate, and the orchestral players
deserve a great deal of credit for bringing a welcome uniformity to their
playing in the outer movements. Purists will undoubtedly scoff at the idea
of a solo violin and keyboard concerto (as Bach specifically did not write
one) but the experiment itself is not without merit.
What cannot be ignored is Sand's heavy-handed and often strident approach to his solo playing, which crept into both the concerti and the trio sonatas. Reccurring intonation difficulties peppered the works and the copious musical ideas lacked any real continuity. The most egregious example was the odd lack of space throughout the pieces, whose absence was especially noticeable in cadential passages. The final cadence in the second movement was run like a red light, giving no indication to a hapless audience that the end of a movement was just heard. Sand continued to weigh the piece down in the third movement as he dug into the lower strings, instead of opting for a lighter, more dance-like quality. This lack of buoyancy in his bow inexorably muddled the direction of the phrase and did not seem at all stylistically accurate for the period. The Concerto for Two Violins (after the Concerto in C-minor, BWV 1060) fared a little better. There were far more dynamic contrasts in the tutti sections but Sand almost refused to play below a mezzo-forte. The addition of violinist David Wilson added a glimmer of delicacy, especially in the middle adagio movement, where his entrances tiptoed in with a glistening sheen. The concert opened with violinists Sand and Wilson performing the Trio Sonata in A Major for Two Violins and Basso Continuo (transcribed from the Second Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord). Wilson fared a little better in lightening his bow strokes, giving a little more direction to the phrases. He was also unafraid to lift his bow off the string, providing space between the notes, something that Sand did not do throughout the evening.
As the second trio sonata of the evening, the Trio Sonata in G-Major for Violin, Cello and Continuo (after the Sixth Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1019) opened the second half of the concert on a better note. Cellist Marc Vanscheeuwijck expertly projected the dance-like quality of the outer movements in giving just a little bit of weight to the triplet figures. This, coupled with harpsichordist Phebe Craigıs delicate work, hinted at giving the piece a true direction. The Archangeli Baroque Strings consists of violinists Michael Sand, David Wilson, Tekla Cunningham, and Rachel Hurwitz. Daria D'Andrea on viola, Marc Vanscheeuwijck, cello, Chris Deppe, violone, and Phebe Craig, harpsichord. (John Demma Van Hagen is a performer, teacher and music journalist and is currently the Music Department Librarian for San Francisco State University.) ©2002 John Demma Van Hagen, all rights reserved |