Program
Sonata for violin and obbilgato harpsichord No 1 BWV 1014
Sonata for violin and obbilgato harpsichord No 2 BWV 1015
Sonata for violin and obbilgato harpsichord No 3 BWV 1016
Sonata for violin and obbilgato harpsichord No 5 BWV 1018
Sonata for violin and obbilgato harpsichord No 6 BWV 1019
Performers
Madeleine Easton – Violin
Neal Peres Da Costa – Harpsichord
Anton Baba – Viola da Gamba/Cello
With the entertainment scene in Sydney still fragile, teetering under the threat of lockdowns yet again, an enthusiastic crowd weathered the cold and the rain to hear the second concert for the year from Bach Akademie Australia. Founded by Australian violinist Madeleine Easton, the orchestra has only been going a few years yet, it has built a very solid base of Board members, followers and fans.
Easton returned to Australia to set up the orchestra after 19 years working in the UK and Europe. Her overseas tenure armed her with much precious knowledge and experience along with an impressive list of world class names to drop from artists with whom she collaborated.
Easton’s passion for Bach is contagious. You cannot fail to be drawn in to the descriptions she offers. They are not dry, academic assessments but instead, are brimming with connection to real life, the heart and emotions. This makes the music accessible to anyone with an interest, regardless of their musical education and makes perfect sense as to why her following continues to grow.
Working with Easton in this salon sized concert is Neal Peres Da Costa, an expert in Historically Informed Performance (HIP) and a mainstay in the Australian/UK Baroque and Classical music scene as a Performing Artist as well as University Lecturer. Throughout the concert he provided a constant, solid background for the trio. An enormous effort and executed to perfection.
On Viola da Gamba/Cello is Anton Baba, another expert artist specialising in HIP recently returned from working in Europe and the UK. Here locally he has appeared as principal cellist and soloist for Orchestra of the Antipodes and the Australian Haydn Ensemble. His work melded so easily into the trio, you had to concentrate to pick his part out over the other instruments. Free from ego, there was no competition against other players, just perfect synchronicity.
The content of the program this time was a set of Sonatas not often heard, composed of course by Johann Sebastian Bach. Though not precisely dated, his Obbligato sonatas were likely composed when he was working for the young Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, a duchy snuggled between Dessau and Bernberg in Germany. Prince Leopold preferred rather bland, simple music for his church services so Bach focused his talents on instrumental music to be played outside of church. Much of these works were quite simple – even Easton recalls finding copies of these sonatas played when she was a budding violin student – and so they were possibly designed for the Prince himself to perform on viola da gamba. Bach also completed some of his much loved Brandenburg concerti during this period as well as part of his first legendary volume of The Well Tempered Clavier.
Not all the works in this concert were simple. Easton pointed out BWV1016 set in the chord of E major filling her manuscript pages with sharps making it quite the challenge to navigate. Some parts were grand and noble, others like the laughter of playing children. Some parts are so fierce you would not want to come across Easton in an alleyway at night time. Some parts austere or as Bach described it “longing for the grave” and then the counter balance to that, plenty of movements radiating the most supreme bright, golden joy.
There was only one movement where the harpsichord had a solo. The audience enjoyed that very much as welcome relief from the similar sound of the trio throughout the rest of the concert. There was some yearning for something a bit different to add to the program. 5 Sonatas for the trio being the whole program might have enjoyed a welcome rest for each player had there been a couple more pieces added for solo or duo to break it up a little.
Overall the audience loved the performance. The acoustics in St James church are ample though bum numbing wooden church pews caused a bit of a grumble. Easton’s solid coloured teal evening gown stood out brilliantly against the mahogany wood surrounding her.
This ensemble is definitely worth supporting. They contain the best artists resident in Australia in HIP music, and they are not put off performing by plague nor bad weather. You can rely on them to always offer you top quality music all year around.
The Bach Akademie Australia concert took place on 18 June, 2021 at St James Church, Sydney.
Production photography courtesy of Melbourne Digital Concert Hall.
Check out their website for the next Bach concert :
https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/
