Skylark Vocal Ensemble. Sasha Greenhalgh photograph
Bach invented it. We’ve just been using it ever since.
Maybe Bach didn’t invent the fugue, or counterpoint, or write the first chorale. But nobody can think of a composer who did it better.
The proof comes from imitation. Bach has been borrowed, stolen, alluded to and modified in the centuries since his death, and music director Jung-Ho Pak led the Cape Symphony Orchestra and some esteemed guests in a glimpse into those musical appropriations Sunday afternoon at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center.
Harpsichordist Peter Sykes, the Skylark Vocal Ensemble and principals from the CSO itself all had turns as soloists in this pastiche program. Principal cellist Jacques Lee Wood began things in a center-stage spotlight, with the prelude to the first solo suite.
From there it was a bit of Brandenburg, a famous cantata, fugues galore, some scat singing, “Fantasia,” and even a video snippet of a trippy Moog synthesizer.
The dozen singers from Skylark, directed by Matthew Guard, provided the vocal prowess. Duet arias from “Wachet Auf,” with instrumentalists Rhiannon Banerdt (violin) and Elizabeth Doriss (oboe) accompanying, were a nice touch. Exploring Bach-influenced contemporary works from Hugo Distler and Knut Nystedt showed the group’s expertise in adventurous repertory.
Nystedt’s arrangement of a Bach funeral song—Skylark, divided into three separate quartets, first sang the tune, then a series of variations in different tempos—transformed Bach’s religious devotion deliciously into a modern idiom. Audiences don’t have to travel far to hear Skylark; they’ve built a strong following in Falmouth and in Chatham over the past few seasons with their wide-ranging a cappella performances.
Another contemporary inspiration, Anton Webern’s orchestration from Bach’s “Musical Offering,” turned the layered, complex genius of a Bach fugue into a spare, elusive tone poem. The six-part fugue seemed to grow simpler over time, rather than more complex. Some instruments illustrated an entire line from the fugue theme with a single note.
It wasn’t all heady musical explorations. Skylark sang a Swingle Singers scat arrangement, which turned Bach’s continuo into a jazzy rhythm section, and epitomized a groovy era (remember “Switched on Bach”?) that has blissfully faded from memory. The familiar Stokowski arrangement from “Fantasia”—an orchestral tour-de-force—closed the homage program in bravura fashion.
The next Cape Symphony Orchestra performances will be holiday pops concerts Dec. 6–8. For tickets and information visit www.capesymphony.org or call 508-362-1111.