Sarasa Ensemble’s (its name is a combination of Saraswathi, Hindu goddess of art and culture, and the Sanskrit word rasa, meaning the essence of sound) “All in the Family” surveyed diverse music by five members of the Bach musical dynasty, with emphasis, of course, on Johann Sebastian (hereafter called Sebastian). The consortium at Friends Meeting House in Cambridge on Saturday comprised oboist Daniel Bates, violinists Christina Day Martinson, Rebecca Nelson, and Danilo Bonina, violist Anna Griffis, cellists Timothy Merton and Jennifer Morsches, and harpsichordist John McKean.
They commenced with the six-movement Ouverture-Suite No. 2 in G Major by Sebastian’s older second cousin, Johann Bernhard Bach (1676-1749)—one of four Ouvertures-Suites, his only music Bernhard that has come down to us. Sebastian prized these works, copying the scores and performing it in Leipzig; they also influenced his own four orchestral suites. The opening Ouverture formed a tripartite structure: the outer sections used the regal double-dotted rhythms of a French overture while the central section featured a delightfully swinging jig. The musicians enjoyed the contrasting textures, moods, and duple vs. triple meters. In the sprightly Gavotte the Bates’s oboe sometimes doubled Martinson’s first violin and sometimes alternated with it. One could describe both the Sarabande and Air Grave (third and fifth movements) as instrumental arias with the first violin as “singer” in Martinson’s sensitive hands. Morsches added rhythmic verve to the fourth movement Bourée by playing a small drum (tambourin). The concluding Gigue also featured tambourine, and the players infectious evinced their high spirits evident visually and aurally.
By way of contrast, McKean shared some domestic music from the Little Clavier Book (one of two) for Anna Magdalena Bach (Sebastian’s second wife), moving to the quiet, intimate clavichord. These collections include mostly pieces by Sebastian and other composers outside the Bach family, but we first heard the simple, sweet March in F Major by the couple’s youngest child, Johann Christian (1735-1782). The aria “Warum betrübst du dich” (Why art thou troubled), transcribed for keyboard, came from an unknown composer, though the performer posited that it could be the work of Anna Magdalena herself, who was an esteemed soprano. McKean’s simple playing touched the soul. Sebastian’s evergreen C Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I finished the set elegantly with its rising and falling arpeggiated chords.
In the Sinfonia from Cantata 156, “Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe” (I stand with one foot in the grave), aka Arioso, a familiar work in both weddings and funerals generally in an organ transcription, Bates’s warm oboe, sounding over plucked strings, convinced us of the protagonist’s calm, even happy, acceptance of impending death.
The Sinfonia in B Minor of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) made another sharp contrast of style with his father’s. Here polyphony was the exception rather than the rule. The numerous dynamic contrasts, freer harmonic progressions (some of which would have raised Sebastian’s eyebrows), and abrupt tempo changes—though the program showed three movements, in fact there were virtually no pauses between them—constituted some traits of Emanuel’s empfindsamer Stil (sensitive style) given full rein by the performers. Sarasa Ensemble’s playing frequently reminded us that one may include Sebastian’s sons in the first generation of composers whose instrumental music features overt expression of emotion, forming the bridge between the late Baroque and early Classical periods.
Likewise, the Sinfonia in F Major “Dissonant” of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784) struck the listener for its dissimilarity to the music of his father. As with Emanuel’s sinfonia, Friedemann retained Sebastian’s use of basso continuo and some counterpoint while making much more use of sharp dissonances and chromatiicism (in appoggiaturas especially), wide register shifts in the string writing, and (in the first movement) sudden, dramatic tempo changes. The Menuet II combined elements of the Baroque—the canon between Violin I and the basso continuo—as well as the newer empfindsamer Stil. The musicians found much rustic humor in the final Allegro, such as the braying donkey figure (also at times in canon) of the main theme and the sextuplet runs evoking squabbling chickens.
Sarasa Ensemble chose one of Sebastian’s sublime chamber works, the Double Concerto in D Minor for Oboe and Violin, as the closer. Bates and Martinson collaborated sensitively in the ever-changing interplay of their instruments in the first movement: in unison, violin accompanying oboe then the reverse, dialogue between the two, etc. The second movement makes a cousin to the Arioso heard earlier, the oboe starting the solo line over plucked strings but soon intertwining enchantingly with the violin. The final movement features a deliciously obsessive theme and offers opportunities for virtuosic display to the whole ensemble but naturally to the soloists first and foremost. The musicians clearly enjoyed themselves, playing with vigor and flawless ensemble, and the audience responded with hearty approval. The single encore, the equally showy Bourrée from Sebastian’s Orchestral Suite No. 1, sent us off with a spring in our step.
Sarasa Ensemble regularly performs in prestigious venues and on the air in the United States and abroad. But among the numerous first-rate early music ensembles in greater Boston, they stand out for their sense of mission as reflected in outreach to youth and adults in correctional facilities, homes for the elderly, mental institutions, etc., bringing music to those who would otherwise have little or no access to it—as well as to audiences of connoisseurs. Received with thanks.