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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2004)
HELMUTH RILLING Up and Running This year’s Bach Fest has some high points. Stories by Brett Campbell T his year’s Oregon Bach Festival hasn’t even started, and already it’s been a roller coaster. Up: I was excited because, in even numbered years, the Festival has brought or commissioned an exciting new work; in 2002, it was Tan Dun’s magical Water Passion. Also up: My excitement grew when word came that this year’s new work might be the masterpiece that already stands as one of the defining masterworks of the new millennium, Osvaldo Golijov’s St. Mark Passion, com- missioned by Helmuth Rilling at the same time as Tan’s Passion. Down: Then came word that logistical and financial consideration prevented the Golijov’s premiere, leaving no big new work. Up: But then, as has so often happened, the Festival’s Composers Symposium announced that its featured artist would be one of the great American composers, George Crumb, and would celebrate his 75th birthday year with a number of his finest works. Down: Then the rest of the festival sched- ule was announced, revealing that one of my major complaints about the OBF — its fail- ure to acknowledge the revolutionary trans- formation of Baroque performance practice through the use of period instruments and tunings, and less familiar Baroque works and composers — hadn’t improved at all. In fact, even the token one or two period instrument concerts that past festivals had sponsored in Beall Hall were missing this time — a major disappointment. Up: But as I perused the rest of the sched- ule, a number of unexpected gems kept sur- facing. The return of so many past festival favorites, led by the incomparable singer Thomas Quasthoff reminded me why, despite its occasional shortcomings, the Oregon Bach Festival is still one of the richest fonts of musical achievement in the Northwest. This year’s festival contains enough mainstream works, performed to the usual high OBF standards, to satisfy most classical music fans, while sprinkling in enough rarer gems to excite the alternative audience as well. I recommend seeing at least one of the two great choral orchestral masterpieces on the schedule: the B Minor Mass and/or the St. Matthew Passion. The chance to see an artist of the accomplishment of Thomas Quasthoff should on no account be missed — be sure to attend at least one of his shows, if you can get tickets. My other top recommendations include the program of Baroque concertos and two concerts featuring some of Mozart’s finest music: the Requiem at Silva Hall and music for winds at Beall Hall. The Beall concerts offer a musical purity and intimacy that the larger venues lack, and I suggest that you attend at least a couple of shows there. Flute fanatics — and everyone else — should be overjoyed at the prospect of hear- ing the divine Lorna McGhee perform in var- ious settings: with chamber orchestra in Krzysztof Penderecki’s Flute concerto, with harp and viola in music by Bach and Takemitsu (both at the top of my list of sug- gested concerts), and even in a Celtic-fla- vored concert. All three of those are warmly recommended to fans of smaller scale and forward-looking music — the alternative audience, if you will, but also anyone with an interest in exploring new musical vistas. Best of all, the Composers Symposium concerts feature the spine-tingling music of one of America’s greatest composers, George Crumb. Even without a mega new work on this year’s Bach Fest program, those concerts provide ample opportunity to hear some of the 20th century’s most intriguing and invit- ing art music — a wonderful chance to open your ears and mind to musical adventure. And we can look forward to the Golijov Passion next year. ■ MAUDE KERNS ART CENTER’S 21 st ANNUAL THE VINEYARD ART AND alton baker park, eugene JULY 2-4, 2004 4 th july fireworks over 160 artists 16 regional wineries art for your garden youth art arena international food court entertainment friday & saturday 11:30am – 8:30pm adults $ 5 daily; 3 day pass $ 10; children 12 & under free! sunday 11:30am thru the fireworks! adults $ 5 daily; children 12 & under $ 1 Interested in Volunteering? Call 342-7743 2 BACH FEST 2004 • JUNE 25 - JULY 11 presented by: www.artandthevineyard.org
