Three concerts of Bach’s music turn February into a ‘Bachanal’ – OregonLive

Johann Sebastian Bach is famous for his innovative, beautiful, and technically difficult pieces for orchestral ensembles and keyboard instruments. He also played the violin and wrote all sorts of solo works, including six suites for unaccompanied cello that are still considered the Mount Everest for that instrument. On top of that, his cantatas for choir, soloists, and orchestra are considered among the highest achievements for oratorios right up to the present.

In the upcoming weeks, concertgoers can hear all of Bach’s “Cello Suites” played by Alisa Weilerstein in a Chamber Music Northwest performance (Feb. 4) and the first four suites by cellists of the Portland Baroque Orchestra (Feb. 19). Sandwiched between the cello concerts is the aptly named Super Bach Sunday show (Feb. 12) with the Bach Cantata Choir, which choral fans can enjoy before Super Bowl gametime.

Since making her professional debut in 1995 at age 13 with the Cleveland Orchestra, and her Carnegie Hall debut two years later, Weilerstein toured internationally, made numerous recordings, and received a MacArthur “genius” grant.

“Bach’s ‘Cello Suites’ are considered by cellists as the Bible of the cello,” said Weilerstein in a Zoom call. “Modern cello playing began there. Even though Bach didn’t play the cello, he transcended the instrument with this music.”

Weilerstein will perform all six of the cello suites in one concert. That typically takes over two and a half hours – not counting intermission. Weilerstein did the full marathon in concert for the first time in 2016, and recorded them in 2020 on the Pentatone label.

“I think of the complete suites as a journey through life,” said Weilerstein. “The first suite is childhood. It is very pure, innocent, and optimistic. The second is adolescence – full of angst and darkness – kind of a tortured character and very volatile as well. The third suite evokes one’s prime. It is very regal and confident. It has the optimism of a young adult ready to take on the world. The fourth suite is mid-life – more wondering and complex. This is where things take a turn and get more interesting and complicated. The fifth suite is tragic, desolate, devastated, lonely, isolation. The sixth suite is by far the longest – almost twice the length of the first suite – it expresses experience, learned wisdom.”

Weilerstein noted her subjective perspective on the suites.

“It is almost like they can’t be played, but they must be played,” she said. “You may play them two months later and they will be different. That’s OK. There is no one interpretation of the suites.”

Tanya Tomkins of the Portland Baroque Orchestra feels the same way about the Bach Cello Suites, which she and three colleagues will play on Baroque-period cellos.

“The pieces are a real journey,” said Tomkins. “You never play them the same way twice. I have played all of them in several venues, including the Library of Congress, and recorded them for Avie Records. But I always want to start all over again and play them another way.”

For the PBO concert, Tomkins has divvied up the first four suites with Adaiha MacAdam-Somer, Annabeth Shirley, and Joanna Blendulf.

“I like the idea of different people playing the suites, because everyone has a different take on it,” said Tomkins. “It is hard for me to choose a favorite one. I am honored to play any of these pieces. I love the first one because it is so optimistic, welcoming, and joyful – a bright way to start the journey.”

Tomkins loves the natural, innate feeling of the suites.

“Bach’s cello pieces exploit the instrument in the best ways,” she noted. “He really understood it with the keys and the open strings and how we make the instrument resonate.”

Bach was influenced by other composers, Tomkins said.

“The Italians brought the violin and cello into a more soloistic form,” she said. “Bach was always looking around at what others were doing. But he would write a chaconne for the first time that would blow away everyone else. He did the same thing with French music. He decided that he could contribute and here is his tiny contribution. It was mind-boggling! It was crazy what he could do!”

Bach aficionados can kick off the big game day with a sonic blast at the Bach Cantata Choir’s Super Bach Sunday concert.

“We have been doing Super Bach Sunday since we started,” said Ralph Nelson, the choir’s artistic director, “and we are now in our 17th season. It’s our most-popular concert every year. We sing a lot of joyous and fun works, which is the opposite of what some people think of Bach’s music. We bring out the trumpets and timpani, and make it a big celebration.”

The 50-voice choir will be joined by soloists and a chamber orchestra to perform Bach’s Cantata No. 43, “God has gone up with a shout” and other works from the Baroque era.

“The concert will feature four composers who worked at St. Thomas Church, in Leipzig, Germany, but not at the same time,” added Nelson. “Bach was the head of music there from 1723 to 1750. He wrote many of his greatest pieces for choir there. But he was just one in a long line of talented German musicians.”

The program includes Johann Hermann Schein’s “Now Thank We All Our God” Johann Schelle’s “Make the Door Wide,” and Johann Kuhnau’s “Your Heavens Rejoice from Above.” All three preceded Bach at St. Thomas Church.

“Johann Kuhnau knew Bach, and they were quite good friends,” said Nelson. “When Kuhnau died, the leaders in Leipzig auditioned candidates for his replacement, and Bach came in third place behind Georg Philipp Telemann and Christoph Graupner. But Telemann received a better paying gig, and Graupner couldn’t get out of his contract. So the Leipzig town council wrote that they had to ‘reluctantly’ hire their third choice, J. S. Bach! The joke nowadays is that Telemann and Graupner weren’t hired because their first name wasn’t Johann.”

Alisa Weilerstein: The Complete Bach Cello Suites – 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, First Baptist Church, 909 S.W. 11th Ave.; $45-$75 (additional discounts for people under 30 and under 18), cmnw.org.

Bach Cantata Choir: Super Bach Sunday – 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church 1907 N.E. 45th Ave.; free, bachcantatachoir.org.

Portland Baroque Orchestra: Bach’s Cello Suites – 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, Kaul Auditorium, Reed College; $35-$66, pbo.org.

— James Bash