An all-Bach concert at the Jesuits’ church was presented by Combattimento Consort of Amsterdam, as part of the Valletta International Baroque Festival.
It was time for the leader... of the 14-strong ensemble to reveal a more serious and nevertheless highly accomplished, sober side
After all the funny cavorting the previous evening at the Palace, with Telemann’s Pimpinone, it was time for Jan Willem de Vriend, leader and director of the 14-strong ensemble to reveal a more serious and nevertheless highly accomplished, sober side. Even so, there was also an opportunity for a display of virtuosity in highlighting different aspects of the great Bach.
The programme was dominated by cantatas, three of the four works performed. Two were sacred while the third was secular. The latter allows a glimpse at another lighter, more humorous side of Bach which renders him more human and accessible than is allowed him by many.
The Kreuzstab Cantata is a work of a penitential and truly reverential nature but not one of despair. Indeed, the beautiful text, to which great justice was done by the clear, rich voice of baritone Thomas Oliemans, is also full of hope and utter belief in redemption.
The scoring is also interesting and varied, limited at first to just the bass, cello and continuo, after the bass had made a very assertive statement in the first aria Ich will den Kreuzstab Gerne Tragen with the full orchestra.
The fine oboe obbligato added a poignant touch to the second aria, Endlich Wird Mein Joch Wieder von Mir Weichen Mussen. The message projected in very clear diction with great musicality and very sound technique, together with the great teamwork with the orchestra, characterised the performance. The final Chorale, Komm o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder, with its optimistic outlook, was enhanced by a small choral group.
Soprano Ruth Ziesak is also endowed with a very beautiful voice, with a pretty wide range and some very rich, mellow lower reaches. In Ich habe Genug, in C minor, she was the picture of serene resignation, in line with the cantata’s nature.
This, again, is one of Bach’s sacred cantatas in which the message is one that looks forward to death as a welcome prelude to the joys of after-life. The opening phrase, Ich habe Genug (I have [had] enough) dominates the initial recitative and aria and is almost obsessively repeated.
The remaining recitative and arias maintain the same, if escalating, mood until in the final aria, Ich Freue Mich am Meinem Tod, death is embraced with enthusiasm. Indeed, a case of: Death where is thy sting? This was a lovely interpretation.
The Orchestral Suite No. 1, in C provided a break and a change from the cantatas. Overture and dance movements followed with steady regularity and with all the contrasts and differences between them crisply projected.
Ending with the Bauernkantate, Combattimento Consort provided a glimpse at a different Bach – one who sets a humorous text to rather uncomplicated music and draws upon, in part, the same folk dances which are the source of his more finely dressed dances in his four orchestral suites.
Thomas Oliemans was the farmer and Ruth Ziesak was Mieke, his wife. They sang a number of solos and duets and, in one of the soprano solos, there was a very prominent flute obbligato part, followed by the appearance of a horn. The singers, with their very articulate, fine singing and very supportive orchestra, projected the work to full effect.