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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
Winning Performance of Bang-up Bach
May 19, 2001
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By John Prescott
Last weekend, the San Francisco Bach Choir ended its season with a program devoted to music of the great Leipzig Cantor for whom the group is named. Musical Director David Babbitt, the choir, and a first-rate period-instrument ensemble presented a thoughtful variety of movements from J. S. Bach's cantatas as well as the Orchestral Suite in D.
Avoiding a nondescript mish-mash of Bach's greatest hits, Babbitt and the choir instead explored the full affective range of Bach's cantata writing, from the dark, pietistic pathos of the dramatic solo "Mein Herz Schwimmt in Blut" to the exuberance of the selections from the Christmas Oratorio that ended the program. It is a tribute to the quality of the performances as well as to the interest of the programming that this 2½-hour concert never dragged.
The choral sound was full and vibrant, the sopranos and altos notably. David Babbitt's deep love for and knowledge of music of the German Baroque came through in the great attention he paid to musical and textual detail. This, combined with insistence on good diction, gave the choral sound a polish rarely heard in amateur choirs. The three soloists (drawn from the choir) — soprano Nora Pollock, alto Silvia Chong, and tenor Dan Hutchings — performed with great sensitivity. Hutchings' high clarion tenor is perfect for Bach's music.
Among the surprises on this program was the duet "Wir eilen mit eifrig doch emsigen Schritten," written for solo voices, sung here by the sopranos and altos. Babbitt's quick tempo and crisp phrasing achieved liveliness despite the enlargement of the forces. The concert showed the Bach Choir — its variety, flexibility, and strong musicality — at its best.
(John Prescott, a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at UC Berkeley, is a writer and lecturer on early music.)
©2001 John Prescott, all rights reserved
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