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CD reviews
"Bach's Virtuosos"
Midori Seilera, Mayumi Hirasakib, Georg Kallweitc, violin
Köthener Bachcollektiv
Dir: Midori Seiler
rec: August 28 - 30, 2022, Köthen, Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Saal
Berlin Classics - 0302926BC (© 2023) (59'18")
Liner-notes: E/D
Cover & track-list
Spotify
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750):
Concerto for violin, strings and bc in g minor (BWV 1056R)a;
Concerto for three violins, strings and bc in D (BWV 1064R)abc;
Johan Georg LINIKE (c1680-1762):
Suite for strings and bc in D;
Josef SPIESS (?-1730):
Concerto for violin, strings and bc in e minora;
Augustin Reinhard STRICKER (c1675-1719):
Sonata for two violins and bc in Dab
Midori Seiler, Mayumi Hirasaki, Cécile Dorchêne, Daniela Helm, Leopold Nicolaus, Teodora Erakovic, violin;
Elisabeth Sordia, violin, viola;
Corina Golomoz, Christian Goosses, viola;
Mercedes Ruiz, cello;
Walter Rumer, violone;
Flóra Fábri, harpsichord
There are many music lovers for whom Johann Sebastian Bach is the centre of their world. The channel for which I am making programmes, has a Bach programme from Monday to Friday under the title "No day without Bach". Nothing against Bach, of course, but this may be a bit exaggerated. The danger is that he is isolated from his historical and stylistic context. Putting him into such a context is highly useful, and allows for understanding in what way he differs from his peers and what are the similarities between them.
The disc to be discussed here is an interesting attempt to present music by Bach together with pieces by composers from his environment. The programme brings us to his time in Cöthen (1717-1723), where he focused on instrumental music, as the Prince was Calvinist, and the services did not include things like motets or cantatas. It is assumed that some of Bach's harpsichord concertos were originally written in Cöthen for different scorings, such as oboe and violin. The two concertos included here are only known in their later arrangements for harpsichord. They are often performed in reconstructions for one and three violins respectively. Here Midori Seiler and her colleagues play reconstructions she has made herself.
The three composers who are joining Bach on this disc are little-known, except by those who have given special attention to Bach's career. The music written by Joseph Spiess, Johann Georg Linike and Augustin Reinhard Stricker is hardly ever performed. In more than forty years of reviewing, no recording of their music has crossed my path. Spiess not even has an entry in New Grove.
Spiess was Bach's colleague in Cöthen, where he acted as first violinist. Before that he had been in the service of the court in Berlin, which was dismissed after the death of King Friedrich I in 1713. He was also connected to Bach in a personal way, as the latter was the godfather of his children. His Concerto in e minor is written in the Italian style. It probably dates from the time before Spiess' move to Cöthen. Given its quality and the level of the solo part it is hard to understand why it receives so little interest. This recording may well be the first ever to appear on disc.
Johann Georg Linike was also from the Berlin court orchestra, and acted as concertmaster in Cöthen from 1718 to 1721. There his brother was cellist. It seems that he did not live in Cöthen: in letters to Johann Mattheson he identifies himself as concertmaster to the Duke of Sachsen-Merseburg. Kai Köpp, in his liner-notes, suggests that he may have helped out from Merseburg in the ensemble in Cöthen. His Suite in D is an interesting specimen of the French style, which was widespread in Germany in the decades around 1700. As many German princes were impressed by the court culture in Louis XIV's France, they urged their Kapellmeister to write in the French style. With time, French music was combined with Italian elements, resulting in the 'mixed taste' of which Bach and Telemann were exponents. Here the second air is performed in the Italian manner. Köpp points out that "its notation in long note values of 3/2 time cannot be intelligently be presented with French-oriented Méthode. The solution was an extemporizing performance in the Italian manner (...)."
The result is an early example of the mixed taste, as is the Sonata in D for two violins and basso continuo by Augustin Reinhard Stricker. The first two movements are marked adagio and allegro respectively. They are followed by a rigaudon and a menuet. Stricker was Bach's predecessor in Cöthen. He not only was a violinist, but also performed as a tenor in operas. Before being active in Cöthen, he was in the service of the Hofkapelle in Berlin. In 1717 he went to Neuburg an der Donau, leaving his post of Kapellmeister to Bach. In New Grove, Dorothea Schröder states that "Stricker himself never rose above the rank of a simple Cammermusicant." The fact that Mattheson dedicated his treatise Das beschützte Orchestre (1717) to him, seems to contradict that statement.
Interestingly, this trio sonata has been preserved in the private music collection of Johann Georg Pisendel, for many years concertmaster of the Dresden court orchestra. He was interested in specimens of the mixed taste. What is especially interesting is that his copy includes markings with regard to articulation, dynamics and ornamentation. And that brings us to what is one of the features of this recording: the way instrumental music by Bach and his contemporaries is to be performed.
The booklet points out that there is a clear difference between Bach's music and that of his peers. It includes a reference to the well-known criticism of Johann Adolph Scheibe, who complained that Bach spelled out everything that is part of the performance practice of the time. Bach was defended by Johann Abraham Birnbaum, who admitted that it is to the performer to add embellishments, but at the same time insisted that it was the composer's right to prescribe "a correct method in accordance with his intention, to direct those that go astray to the right path, thereby assuring the protection of his own honour".
The first half of the 18th century was the time of the Enlightenment, which was very intested in educating people, and that included education of the growing number of amateurs in musical matters. This explains the many treatises that were published across Europe. Some printed editions included pieces with written-out ornamentation, and in some prefaces composers included instructions on how to play their music. From that perspective Bach's music is less different from common practice than it may seem. He just used a different way to instruct performers.
In the liner-notes the suite by Linike is mentioned as an example of a piece that needs to be "shaped" by the performers. The ouverture and the first air are notated in four parts, the other movements in three. "This feature, not uncommon for a suite in the French style, shows once again, how rudimentary the notation could be, if a seasoned composer can take it for granted that professional performers will co-engage in the shaping of his music. Such an open concept is at odds with an interpretation that faithfully follows the score, as is possible with Bach." On a side-note: this is the reason why one has to take scholars' assessments of music with a grain of salt, if they are based on just reading the score, without having heard it being performed by interpreters who know how to treat it.
From two angles this is an interesting recording: first the inclusion of music by composers who have remained in Bach's shadow, and second the performance practice, where Bach seems to be different from his contemporaries, but in fact is not that different after all.
Midori Seiler and some of her colleagues meet every two years at the Köthener Bachfesttage. This recording is the result of such a meeting, and it is a highly instructive and musically compelling one, with performances at the highest level by virtuosos on their respective instruments. The two Bach concertos can hardly be performed any better, and if performers want to show that 'forgotten' repertoire is well worth being revived, they have to play it in an engaging manner - and exactly that is the case here.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Köthener BachCollektiv