Tag: Peter Harvey

Bach Anniversary Concert: Purcell Quartet & Fretwork, Wigmore Hall, 28 July 2000

To mark the 250th anniversary of Bach’s demise, the Wigmore Hall treated us to a concert entirely comprising his music:

  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Contrapuncti Nos 1-5 from The Art of Fugue BWV 1080
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit BWV 106
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata: Lass, furston, lass noch einen Strahl “Trauerode” BWV 198
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Contrapunctus No 18 from The Art of Fugue

I don’t think the Purcell Quartet ever recorded The Art of Fugue. It does sound great in the string quartet format – here’s the Emerson Quartet’s recording:

The Purcell Quartet did record Bach trio sonatas around that time – the recording sounds great to my ears. I’ll be listening to all of these later – here’s a sample:

I cannot find Fretwork recordings of the pieces we heard that night, but this Netherlands Bach Society recording of “Trauerode” is rather lovely – albeit a larger orchestra than we heard at The Wig:

Here’s a recording of Nancy Argenta singing an aria from a different Bach cantata. It’s a rather yummy sound:

This concert will have been just the ticket for us after a busy week. No doubt one or both of us nodded off during some stage of the proceedings…in a good way.

Kyrie Eleison, The King’s Consort, Wigmore Hall, 23 February 2000

A delicious concert of baroque, mostly sacred, music at The Wig. We had thrown ourselves into the baroque season that year, venturing even on a Wednesday evening, which was usually off limits in our busy lives back then. I recall that the effort was well worth it.

We heard:

  • Johann Heinrich Schmelzer – Sonata no 8 in G
  • Sebastian Knüpfer – Wenn Mein Stundlein Vorhanden Ist
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G Minor, BWV 235
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G Major, BWV 236
  • Georg Muffat – Sonata ‘a cinque’ in D
  • Johann Kuhnau – Tristis Est Anima Mea

Back then, The King’s Consort was a bit of an “all stars” affair in the early music world, with Carolyn Sampson, Rebecca Outram, Charles Daniels and Andrew Carwood, to name but four, all appearing under Robert King’s banner.

Some unusual pieces in there too. Let’s see if I can dig out some tasty samples. Here’s a sweet performance of the Schmelzer by Ensemble Masques

The Knüpfer was part of The King’s Consort’s recording projects around that time. Here is their recording:

The first of the Bach Masses at the centre of this concert, BWV 235, has been beautifully recorded live by the Netherlands Bach Society.

Here is Herreweghe’s version of the Kyrie from the Bach Mass BWV 236. You can load and click through for the whole of this mass if you wish:

The King’s Consort had also recently recorded the Kuhnau a couple of years before this concert. Here is their beautiful recording.

Wachet Auf: The King’s Consort At The Wigmore Hall, 9 December 1999

“Wachet Auf” means “Wake Up!”, which was possibly an early call for wokery back in the Baroque period…or possibly not. In any case, I wouldn’t recommend English speakers barking this German language expletive after a couple of G&Ts – it might be misunderstood.

We rated this gig “very good”. Some lesser known works by Bach’s lesser known contemporaries, sandwiched between a bit of Telemann and a bit of Bach:

  • Ouverture “Perpetuum Mobile”, Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Balletti Lamentabili a 4, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
  • O Heilige Zeit, Johann Kuhnau
  • Sinfonia No 2 in C Minor, Johann Ludwig Krebs
  • Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Strimme Cantata BWV 140, Johann Sebastian Bach

Here is O Heilige Zeit performed by Solomon’s Knot:

Here is the Krebs Sinfonia, performed by Capella jenensis:

Here is a recording of Wachet Auf by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman…

…whom we saw 25 years later performing Telemann sonatas and Tafelmusik at The Wig:

Ton Koopman 80th Birthday Celebration, Soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 29 November 2024