Last year's Festival, "Bach in Leipzig --Between Tradition and a New Beginning," was a high water mark and featured such interpreters as Ton Koopman, Gustav Leonhardt, and Philippe Herreweghe and the use of historic instruments. The Bach Medal was awarded to Leonhardt.
This year's theme was "Bach and the Age of Romanticism" and featured modern instruments. The Bach Medal went to Helmuth Rilling, firmly rooted in the Romantic tradition and founder of the Gächinger Kantorei in 1954 and of the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart in 1965. Quite a shift! So it was significant that Rilling and his forces gave the pivotal performance midway through the festival.
Those who are fans of Rilling's approach with a modern orchestra and a big sound would have been impressed with virtuoso instrumental performances and the full, rich vocal sound. Those who prefer the historic approach would have been tested by thick textures that favored robustness over clarity and by soloists whose quality, except for the bass, seemed tremulous and raspy. Rilling conducted two Bach cantatas (BWV 105 and 147) and Mendelssohn's Kyrie in D Minor and cantata Wie der Hirsch schreit nach frischem Wasser (As the hart cries for fresh water, op. 42).
There were other choral programs of note. The St. Thomas Choir under the expert direction of Cantor Georg Christoph Biller appeared in two outstanding programs. The opening concert with the theme Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a new song) featured both Bach's motet and Cantata BWV 190 and also Mendelssohn's Opus 91. In a later concert Biller conducted Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 in B Major, "Lobgesang," a tour de force presented with the St. Thomas Choir, the female Schola Cantorum Leipzig and the able Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
In the newly restored St. Nicholas Church an impassioned Daniel Reuss conducted a riveting performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio, St. Paul, with the exceptional RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. There were also opportunities to hear Haydn's Creation at the Hochschule für Musik and Mendelssohn's 1851 version of Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Gewandhaus with its excellent acoustics and orchestra-in-the-round seating.
The closing concert is traditionally a performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor. Last year Herreweghe with his Collegium Vocale Gent delivered a seminal performance of unforgettable artistic beauty, heard once in a lifetime. This year the honors went to the legendary Eric Ericson in his 85th year and his Chamber Choir with the Drottningholm Barock-Ensemble. In addition to technical brilliance Ericson evoked a palpable spiritual depth that was inspired and poetic. Most moving was Marie Sanner's poignant, affecting Agnus Dei, sung last year so memorably by Andreas Scholl. Next year Herbert Blomstedt will conduct the Mass with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Chamber Choir.
The organ and organists fared very well this year. Organ excursions included the ever-popular Silbermann organs of Rötha and also the three-manual Silbermann at the Dresden Hofkirche restored in 2002. In Leipzig you could hear the New Bach Organ by Woehl and two romantic Sauer organs: at St. Michael's Church celebrating its 100th year (three manuals, 46 ranks) and at St. Thomas dating from 1885 (three manuals, over 100 ranks).
At St. Michael's a talented Daniel Beilschmidt played an Organ Matins with Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt's Funerailles transcribed by Lionel Rogg, and an impressive Duruflé-esque improvisation. In several services at St. Thomas one heard the full range of the grand Sauer in the hands of the very gifted assistant organist, Johannes Unger, in Schumann's Fugue No. 6 on BACH and Saint-Saëns' Fugue in E-flat Major, both skillfully rendered. St. Thomas organist Ulrich Böhme and his wife, Martina, used both the Sauer and New Bach Organ in works for four hands including movements from Bach's Art of the Fugue, Beethoven's F Major Adagio for Flute Clock, and Merkel's demanding Sonata in D Minor, op. 30, for four hands and four feet concluding with the fugue in a mesmerizing triumph!
Johannes Unger and the Sauer can be heard in a recent release from Priory Records Great European Organ Series, No. 62 (PRCD 788), available in this country through Albany Music Distributors, Inc. (518/436-8814) and the Organ Historical Society (www.ohscatalog.org). The Wilhelm Sauer is one of Germany's most important late Romantic organs, built in 1809 with 63 stops, but later expanded under Karl Straube's tenure to 88 stops. Ulrich Böhme can be heard on the New Bach Organ on Querstand VKJK 0120 available through OHS in an all-Bach program of Johann Sebastian, his uncle Johann Christoph, and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. The St. Thomas Choir can be seen and heard in a DVD recording of the Mass in B Minor, broadcast and taped on the 250th anniversary of Bach's death in 2000, available from Gothic and OHS.
Each day began with worship in Leipzig churches. Probably the service of greatest interest is the annual St. Thomas Ascension Day Service "in der Liturgie der Bach-Zeit" (in the liturgy of Bach's time). The service was identical to last year's except for Cantata BWV 128, Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein, and the Sanctus in D Major, BWV 238. A copy of the service with an English translation can be found at
Websites for both St. Thomas and the Bach Archive, which sponsors the Festival, are also now in English. At <www.thomaskirche.org> one can access the music performed in services and concerts and also the Thomasshop, where you can buy CDs, books, and souvenirs. Highly recommended are two books on St. Thomas, both full of interesting information and beautiful photography. The smaller English paperback "Church Guide," written by Pastor Christian Wolff, "Thomas Church in Leipzig," is only Euro 6.80. The more extensive German volume of 200 pages for Euro 28.00, written by Martin Petzoldt, "St. Thomas/zu Leipzig," provides a comprehensive history of the church and information on the music program (organs and organists, cantors, choir and its school). Both are wonderful mementos.
At <www.bach-leipzig.de> there is information on this year's festival (with PDF files of the daily Bach News) and also next year's. The dates for 2005 are April 29-May 8 because of an earlier Easter and because the festival is scheduled around Ascension Day, which is also a German national holiday. Next year's theme is "Bach and the Future" with new commissions, Les Talens Lyriques, The Hilliard Ensemble, John Eliot Gardner with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Herbert Blomstedt with the Gewandhaus forces, and, of course, the St. Thomas Choir under Cantor Biller. The full program will appear online in October. Tickets go on sale November 15.
Going to Leipzig has immeasurable rewards--intimate contact with the spirit of Bach and 70 exceptional performances by an international gathering of world talent. Any church musician who loves Bach should make this pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime.
