The Bach Players
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The Bach Players at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich
November 2009
Bach Players in rehearsal for their concert at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich.
For a review of the concert, go to the Bright Cecilia Forum.
Nun komm! Music for Advent and beyond [press release]
November 2009
In their concert at St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, on Saturday 28 November – the day before Advent Sunday – The Bach Players present a programme built around the Advent cantata ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’ (‘Now come, Saviour of the Gentiles’). Like so many of Bach’s cantatas, this thrilling work packs an extraordinary range of content into a short sequence of movements. The concert’s other cantata, ‘In allen meinen Taten’ (‘In all that I do’) forms a musical partner to ‘Nun komm’ in its use of the French overture form. The overture theme is continued in a suite by a predecessor of Bach, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach. The choral melody of ‘In allen meinen Taten’ is that of the beautiful and famous ‘Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen’, which will be sung a capella by The Bach Players’ four singers.
It is now two years since The Bach Players started their series at St John’s Downshire Hill. The group is self-organized and plays without a conductor. It is made up of leading British and Continental-European Baroque musicians, who have packed international schedules. Almost all of them took part in Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Project of 2000.
Why do they choose to play in a local church, rather than King’s Place or the Wigmore Hall? It is indeed a matter of deliberate choice. The Bach Players’ core repertoire of sacred music demands to be played in a church. But further, St John’s is one of the best venues in London acoustically. Its comfortable, intimate seating is superior to that of any of the Central-London halls.
Putting on its own concerts allows the group autonomy in the content of what it does, and also in how the evening is run. Before the concert and in the interval, drinks are served and there is a chance to buy the group’s CDs. You will probably see a friend or neighbour whom you haven’t bumped into for a while. The Bach Players’ concerts at St John’s are, in the words of one critic, like ‘a gathering of friends, on which the audience eavesdrops: an atmosphere that produces consistent outstandingly musical performances’.
In the days following this concert, at St Michael’s Church, Highgate, The Bach Players will record their third CD, ‘Nun komm!’ which will be made up of pieces from this concert. This will be released in 2010 by another autonomous, local enterprise: Hyphen Press Music.
Nun komm!
October 2009
As a taster for the concerts in Norwich and London later this month, we are posting this clip from a private recording made at our performance of ‘Nun komm der heiden Heiland’, BWV 61, at St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8, on 28 November 1999. This is the opening chorus of the cantata, sung and played by Rachel Elliott, Sally Bruce-Payne, Mark Padmore, Thomas Guthrie, Nicolette Moonen, Rodolfo Richter, Jane Rogers, Trevor Jones, Richard Campbell, Elizabeth Bradley, Nicholas Parle.
Every one a chaconne
October 2009
We presented the new CD to subscribers at a launch party last month in (as our subscription letter promised) ‘a place of architectural interest in North London’ – the bulding where our publisher works.
A new partnership
July 2009
For some time we have wanted to find a promoter to share the concerts that we do in London. After talking with our friends at The King of Hearts in Norwich, we are glad to announce that – from this autumn – we will be playing our London programmes also in Norwich. Our concerts this autumn reflect the arrangement. The September concert for chamber pieces will be at The King of Hearts itself, while the November Bach cantata concert will take place at the Octagon Chapel in Norwich, maintaining our practice of playing this music in churches, and also allowing for a larger audience. We look forward very much to this new venture.
Concert Promoters’ Network
July 2009
We have been chosen for inclusion in the 2010–2011 Concert Promoters’ Network Brochure. This is a scheme that allows promoters and artists to construct tours, and thus bring down costs to each promoter. For more, go here
The Bach Players at Beverley Minister
May 2009
Bach Players in rehearsal for their concert at the Beverley Early Music Festival. At the concert itself the nave of the church was full: about 600 people.
Bach arranging and arranged
March 2009
Reviews of the CD have been appearing. So far the most detailed has been by Nicholas Anderson in International Record Review. Here is what he wrote about the Pergolesi/Bach recording:
The performance is a delight from start to finish. All too often this music is spoilt by the uneven results and almost invariable rivalry stemming from the partnership of a soprano with a counter-tenor. Neither Rachel Elliott nor Sally Bruce-Payne is over-assertive or over-eager to take centre stage, much preferring to preserve the penitential context of the piece and the ethereal beauty of the music. Both voices strike my ears as about ideal as you could get. Their lightly articulated phrasing, stylish decoration and, where occasion requires, even partnership are a constant delight. Indeed, I find their sublime duet ‘Denn du willst kein Opfer haben’ outstandingly sensitive in matters of expression and here, as throughout, they are accompanied by gently complementary string playing.
In short, no rival version that I have heard on disc, and there are several, matches this one. Well-judged tempos and an ideal recorded sound set the seal on a particularly satisfying issue. To hell with the credit crunch, go and buy it, at once.
Bach arranging and arranged
January 2009
Read an interview with Nicolette Moonen about the first Bach Players recording here.