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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
J. S. Bach by the Numbers April 22, 2002
|  By Ching Chang
Following the successful release last year of their joint recording
"Morimur", violinist Christoph Poppen and the Hilliard Ensemble (Monika
Mauch, soprano; David James, countertenor; Steven Harrold, tenor; Gordon
Jones, baritone) reprised their fine performance at Grace Cathedral
in San Francisco last week, the third stop in their seven-city U.S. tour.
The program, a hybrid of J.S. Bach's chorales alternating with
the four movements of the composer's great Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV
1004 for solo violin, was conceptually built upon the theories of German
musicologist Helga Thoene, whose research proposes that the D minor Partita
hides a coded epitaph to Bach's first wife Maria Barbara, the mother of his
first seven children who died untimely at age 35.
In this scheme, the Partita's opening Allemande, for instance, is preceded
by the eerie descending steps of "Den Tod," sung by the
Hilliard's lower voices. The relentless Gigue is preceded by the
placid laments in the chorale "Wo soll ich fliehen hin." While the artistic
pertinence of Thoene's numbers-puzzle logic has been openly questioned,
choosing to present these works in this manner does offer the opportunity to
consider them in a different way.
Contrasting relationships both musical and expressive between these works were made more salient; but even more distinctly, performing them in this way provides this music a more theatrical framework, placing particularly the partita's magisterial Chaconne in exquisite relief. Being reminded of the immensity of what J.S. Bach is sharing with us in this work — the devastating grief and personal tragedy, and the universality of this experience — left me personally overwhelmed. Yet Bach's Chaconne is also ultimately a comforting piece, not only in the sheer beauty of the statement itself, but for making us realize that even our deepest despair is not something experienced alone. Still, the outcome of the "Morimur" experiment in its totality is only partially effective. Particularly, the repetition of the Chaconne at the end of the program lessens its original effect, even more so because chorale themes are played along with it. Alternating the chorales with movements of the Partita was often illuminating; but the odd effect of voices superimposed upon the visceral solo violin — to highlight the source-chorale melodies supposedly imbedded in the Chaconne — created an effect reminiscent of a commercial art-film score, with its constant cross-fading soundtracks. Poised with authority and elegance, violinist Christoph Poppen delivered a poignant reading with an often-ethereal feel, extracting chameleonic timbre from his exceptionally fine instrument. Many deeply-felt, lacerating chiasmic pairings were countered with the sweetest tones of resigned consolation, while sustained bravura passages buzzed with technical brilliance. The acoustical environment at Grace Cathedral, however, was decidedly ungracious to Poppen, with notes reverberating in the high, vaulted ceilings while fast bravura passages often melted into cacophony. Yet, it was clear to the audience that they experienced a world-class performance.
Anyone who has taken musicianship classes will invariably have encountered J.S. Bach's chorales, the basis for mind-numbing exercises of harmonic analysis. Still others might have been put off by these pieces with their robotic repetitions during Sunday morning church service. The four solo voices in the Hilliard Ensemble however choose to treat these unassuming Lutheran chorales as high art, giving them an uncommon, timeless polish. The voices blend with exquisite transparency, each individually audible yet adding to a wondrous collective sound. A decisive ictus launched the great chorale "Christ lag in Todesbanden" with impressive determination, while the luminous "Befiehl du Deine Wege" was rendered with a feathery softness, serene and sweet. Though more-traditional Bach purists have objected to it, the theatricality and heightened dramatic effect may well be the reason "Morimur" has attained such popularity. For a short time it was the third-place entry in amazon.comıs list of best-selling CDs, right behind such luminaries as Britney Spears and Enya — a fact which by itself should inspire both awe and skepticism. (Ching Chang is a contributing writer to several publications, including the SF Gate, SF Bay Times and Opera News. He writes a monthly column on classical music and opera for the SF Gate's eGuide www.sfgate.com/eguide) ©2002 Ching Chang, all rights reserved |