Bach Festival Opening Surpasses Expectations
By John Farnworth
For The Register-Guard article source
June 30, 2008

The 2008 Oregon Bach Festival commenced its Eugene concerts with, appropriately, Johann Sebastian Bach's magnificent Mass in B Minor, under the direction and baton of Bach Festival co-founder, Helmuth Rilling, on Saturday evening in the Hult Center's Silva Hall.

It was a repeat of the previous evening's performance in Portland, which had avoided a clash with opening day of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene.

Executive director John Evans has pointed out that the name of the festival is the Oregon Bach Festival, not the Eugene Bach Festival, and that it should have exposure throughout the state and especially in Portland.

If Bach had composed nothing other than the B Minor Mass this work alone would have secured his place among the foremost composers in western civilization. It is a monumental and beautiful creation that represents the summation of his entire vocal oeuvre. Though I have heard it countless times, its sublime beauty and perfection can reduce music lovers to tears.

Maestro Rilling probably knows Bach's music as well as the composer did himself. Conducting, as always, without score and entirely from memory, he led the Festival orchestra and chorus into the opening Kyrie eleison louder than his usual approach.

In his pre-concert lecture, pianist and composer Robert Levin described the music of the opening Kyrie as "one of the most terrifying and inspiring pieces in all music". Rilling's interpretation was both terrifying and inspiring.

Other conductors invariably start the first Kyrie with full force, chorus and orchestra both very loud. One wonders which approach Bach would have preferred.

Probably true to Bach's original intent, the Festival's orchestra and chorus numbers were not large, approximately 28 and 53, respectively. Fewer musicians should lead to greater clarity in both instrumental and vocal sounds, and this was certainly true of the orchestra.

The strings were crystal clear and coordinated. The winds were particularly fine, with gorgeous solo contributions from transverse flautist Lorna McGhee, especially in the Domine Deus; oboeist Allan Vogel, and bassoonists Kenneth Munday and Steve Vacchi.

Guy Few's trumpet solos were brilliant, and his one solo on the corno de caccia was beautiful. Boris Kleiner's organ continuo provided the framework on which all the others painted their musical pictures.

The chorus was generally good. Sopranos, altos and tenors were guilty of ragged entrances in the opening Kyrie, though they tightened up noticeably as the concert proceeded.

The Gloria, in particular, was much more focused, and the sharply attacked entrances were exciting. The Gratias agimus high notes had the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up. I was troubled, however, by a lack of clear enunciation, particularly in the softer passages, where I had to refer to the supertitles to understand the words being sung.

Certainly, the Silva Hall's acoustics are not kind to choral sounds, particularly when the singers are placed at the far back of the stage. There was plenty of room at the front of the stage for the chorus, and it might have been beneficial to move both the orchestra and chorus forward, with a baffle behind the chorus to direct its sound forward.

Both the Credo and the Crucifixus suffered because of the choir placement and the acoustic problem. In the difficult Confiteor section, however, the choirıs clarity was superb, particularly at the end where the singing is a capella.

Of the four soloists, Ingeborg Danz's alto was the most mesmerizing. I have listened to her voice develop over the past 17 years. It is always good, but it has now developed a rich, golden depth, pureness and patina that must make her the envy of many other altos. Her Agnus Dei was gorgeous.

Soprano Sibylla Rubens possesses a beautiful voice, which she used to great advantage in the Christe eleison and Et in unum duets with Danz. Christopher Cock's tenor has a fine timbre, but lacked intensity. Michael Nagy's bass was fine.

Altogether, this was a fine opening night for the 39th Oregon Bach Festival, with many exquisite individual and collective performances. May there be many more.