The music philosopher Marlies De Munch recently called for Bach to be brought down from his pedestal and given a renewed voice. Nadar will perform four unusual compositions through which Bach resonates in various ways. Allemande multipliée by the Austrian composer Eva Reiter is a virtuoso solo dance for a violinist who plays their instrument with life and limb, as if it were an analogue effects pedal. The English composer Joanna Bailie experienced an uncanny resemblance between the Gigue in Bach’s fifth cello suite and a chugging steam train. The adaptation of Bach’s moving Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo for guitar solo by the Danish composer Simon Steen-Andersen is an intelligent example of historically informed performance practice. His version is more distant from the original, but closer to the original work for the harpsichord that the young Bach wrote as a lamentation upon the departure of his brother Johann Jacob. Steen-Andersen’s adaptation of Schlummert ein from the cantata Ich habe genug is like a record that gets imperceptibly slower and slower, until the music itself seems to fall asleep. The harpsichord player Anthony Romaniuk responds, completing the concert with work by the ‘real’ Bach, to the extent that any such thing still exists.
Program
Niko D. Schroeder: Bach Accelerations Studies | J.S. Bach/S. Steen-Andersen: Schlummert ein | E. Reiter: The wilderness of Mirrors | J.S. Bach: Prelude uit Engelse suite nr. 2 in a, BWV 807 | Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratello dilettissimo, BWV 992 | Joanna Baillie: Trains
Performers
Nadar Ensemble: Nico Couck, electric guitar | Pieter Matthynssens, cello, artistic director | Thomas Moore, trombone | Elisa Medinilla, keyboard | Anthony Romaniuk, harpsichord, Wurlitzer electric piano
