Pacific Baroque Orchestra - A Little Night Music For The Ear Drums
Friday, November 28, 2014
It has not quite dawned to the inhabitants of Portland that a fantastic baroque violinist, Monica Huggett is head of their Portland Baroque Orchestra. Those who know can only be jealous that Portland lured her.
In Vancouver we are as lucky if you consider
that the Artistic Director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Alexander Weimann
(while not being a virtuoso violinist) is a virtuoso harpsichordist (pretty
good with the other keyboard instruments) and is one of the best multi-taskers
in the business. He can play and direct simultaneously.
 |
| Alexander Weimann relishing the tuning of his harpsichord |
But there is another
double quality that Weimann has that I was able to confirm in tonight’s Nachtmusik
concert at the sublimely acoustic Christ Church Cathedral (but repeating this
Sunday at 2:30 at the Rose Gellert Hall in Langley).
I found out from
baroque bassist Curtis Daily (naturally on a weekend loan from the Portland
Baroque Orchestra) that the orchestra even practiced today from 3pm.
 |
| Ed Reifel tunes Early Music Vancouver's timpani |
Alex Weimann is a
perfectionist. That is one quality that may simply be part of the fact that he
is German and simply confirms what we non-Germans think about them.
But there is that
other quality (do Germans as a whole have this?) of humour. Weimann has a subtle
and elegant sense of humour. It shone in tonight’s concert of which I thought
had as a theme, music about night time. That was purely coincidental as the
program was an exploration of the serenata or serenade as it unfolded from the
17th century into the 18th. Trust Weimann to find a
catchy theme (but not one) night to teach us (and Weimann is a fine teacher)
about music and where it came from.
Jazz has been one of my great loves but I have mostly avoided going to live jazz concerts because I despise drum solos. Ditto for bass. While my friend Curtis Daily, the consummate baroque bassist did not try my patience by playing one, percussionist Ed Reifel proved to me that a percussion solo can be exciting and enlightening.
Jazz has been one of my great loves but I have mostly avoided going to live jazz concerts because I despise drum solos. Ditto for bass. While my friend Curtis Daily, the consummate baroque bassist did not try my patience by playing one, percussionist Ed Reifel proved to me that a percussion solo can be exciting and enlightening.
As a bonus that
combined the talents of former head of Early Music Vancouver, José Verstappenn to find stuff (in
this case a pair of very rare and handsome baroque timpani) and the percussive
virtuosity of Toronto musician Ed Reifel, the program included many loud (and
beautiful) bangs on the timpani (two solos, how’s that?) snare drums, castanets,
etc.
The concert ended with
a lively and nicely loud Serenata Notturna in D major KV 239 by Mozart.
But it began with that
timpani solo and then Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusic. What was special about
this chestnut is that it was played by only 13 musicians, 7 violins, 2 violas, two
cellos, a harpsichord and a bass. Inside the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral,
up front it was intimate with quiet moments. I asked bassist Curtis Daily why
the third (four in all) movement Menuetto sounded so much like a waltz and I
could imagine Grace Kelly dancing it with Alec Guinness in The Swan. It seems
(and I must always admit that I am indeed an amateur) that the menuetto and the
waltz are both in ¾ time that would explain, perhaps the influence of Mozart in
the Viennese Waltz.
The second piece was
by a slightly obscure but famous violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (look him
up in Google and you will that the search engine wants to take you away from
Bohemia and Salzburg to our very own Canada for that other…) whose Serenade in
C major (Nachtwächter Bass) sounded to me wonderfully like a nicely tuned (for
once!) circus band.
Behold one of the
movements was a Ciacona (every time I see this in a program it has a different
spelling) of which I have already written about here. I love them but this one,
all in pitzicatto strings was off because it had no melody line to play over
the extended bass line. But I was absolutely wrong! Weimann emerged in night
clothes (a sort of pajama) and holding a lamp while singing in his fine
baritone (in German), “Listen you people, and let it call to you, the clapper
has struck nine.” At the almost end he appeared again and nine became ten. This
was entirely funny, busy and fun. Weimann knows his musical history and more. I am almost sure that his funny impersonation of the night watchman was probably based on a factual event.
The next piece was no
better (thank God!). It was Luigi Boccherini’s (1743-1805) La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid. This
stuff, wonderful stuff, with lots of action from Ed Reifel, also sounded like a
circus band, but this time one that marched in the late night streets of Madrid. And the fourth
movement (of five) Los Manolos (Passacaille) sounded a lot like a Chaconne as
indeed both the Passacaille and the Chaconne are related.
But most important to me since I am am a Patrick O’Brian fan and of his Aubrey – Maturin nautical novels set in the
times of the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars is that Captain Aubrey
(not too bad a fiddler) and Doctor Stephen Maturin (who played a wicked cello)
loved Boccherini and in fact the actors play La Musica Notturna on board in the
film Master and Commander.
The second half began
with a much longer and louder timpani solo. I asked Reifel how he could do this
with only two notes. His answer left me perplexed (remember I am an amateur), “Two
notes but with many pitches.” The next work was a String Quartet in F major by
Roman Hofstetter (1742-1815). Of Hofstetter, Luigi Boccherini might have said
of the man in his accented Spanish (he worked in the Spanish Court), “En su casa lo conocen.” (they
know who he is at home). It seems that this lovely quartet with an immensely popular
second movement (of four) Serenata (andante cantabile) was all until recently attributed
to Joseph Haydn and known as his Op3. no 5.
After the concert many
of us went up to the stage to chat with the musicians and enquire about the
different instruments. I inquired as to why the lovely harpsichord, made by West Vancouver’s Craig
Tomlinson had had its cover unhinged and removed. In order for Weimann to play
the instrument and see all the musicians he directed the cover had to go.
I left to find myself
in a lovely snowy Vancouver
night wondering why more people don’t know how lucky we are to have Alexander
Weimann and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in our city.
