LF 26: Dunedin Consort with Matthew Brook
Crichton Collegiate Church 13/9/26
Dunedin Consort, John Butt (director), Matthew Brook (baritone), Alexandra Bellamy (oboe d’amore)
In the secluded rural location of the stunning medieval Crichton Collegiate Church on 13th September the Dunedin Consort presented a programme of Bach, Buxtehude and Graupner. The Consort’s long-time collaborator, baritone Matthew Brook joined them in two cantatas, Buxtehude’s ‘Mein Herz ist bereit’ BuxWV73, and Bach’s celebrated ‘Ich habe genug’ BWV 82. Between them, there were two purely instrumental works. Alexandra Bellamy was the soloist in a reconstruction of one of Bach’s two lost oboe d’amore concertos, which was followed by a ‘Suite for strings’ by Christoph Graupner (the preferred candidate for the Leipzig cantorate but, fortunately for Bach, not released by his employer, so Bach got the job). Alexandra also played the oboe d’amore in the Bach cantata.
Back in June, I was switched on to Buxtehude by a performance of his cycle of 7 cantatas, ‘Membra Jesu Nostri’, by the newly-formed Ensemble Harmonia Mundi in Partick, so I was in the mood for more and delighted to have it served up by the Baroque experts. The instrumentation of 2 violins, viola, cello and bass were directed from the continuo organ by John Butt. A bright cheerful overture introduced the predominant mood of joyful praise in slow 3, then brisker. The baritone line opened with a chorale melody, appropriately becoming brisker on the words “Wache auf”. Matthew Brook’s clarity and projection of tone (with which I was already familiar from the Dunedin 2023 ‘Messiah’) were still superb, and I can now add flawlessly clear German diction to those blandishments.
John Butt shifted to the standing harpsichord for the Bach Concerto in A major BWV 1055, wittily introducing it as probably originally for harpsichord but much better on the oboe d’amore (less “desiccated”). It was written in an attempt at the French “Gallant” style, he said, but anything “passed through the Bach meat-grinder comes out as pure Bach”. After the Dunedin signature harmonious tuning, the first movement’s bouncy cheerful Allegro was everything he had promised, the glorious chocolatey tone of Alexandra’s tan-coloured instrument balanced beautifully with the strings, all pleasingly supported by the venue’s generous acoustic. The Larghetto, a slow plaintive 6/8 arioso sung by the soloist over a string obbligato typical of Bach’s keyboard concerti, was scrumptious. The finale was a brisk 3, agile, virtuosic and full of smiles. Meat-grinder or not, Bach can make my burgers any day.
The Graupner (indeed, any Graupner) was new to me and the harpsichord was again pressed into service. A prelude/overture opened, with a brisk 4 giving way to a lively 6/8 (or possibly triplets), concluding with a dignified 4. The rest of the numbers were stylised dances, The first had a quaint two-note echo at the end of each line. The second was a faster quite Handelian 4, in two sections, each of which had an obsessive repeated rhythmic pattern. A charming, if serious,minuet-and-trio followed. The last three dances were all also in a triple rhythm. The middle of them stood out as the most interesting movement of the suite, very rapid scampering and more French-sounding than Germanic. I’m in no danger of being co-opted on a Graupner quest, but I’ll acknowledge that there are gems to be mined.
I was still in primary school when I first heard Irish bass William Young perform ‘Ich habe genug’ with the RTE Symphony Orchestra in a St Francis Xavier Hall studio concert in Dublin. It made a deep impression on me then and it has never lost its power to enthral me since. It was only very recently (in the last few days) that I heard the theory that the cantata was composed shortly after the death of one of Bach’s daughters and that it represents a grief-stricken Bach humbly acknowledging the mercy and generosity of God, but with perhaps just a hint of reproach. I was looking forward to hearing it and I was not disappointed. But now I think I am beginning to understand why. The plaintive oboe d’amore, Matthew Brook’s candid delivery and the consoling strings of the Dunedin Consort caught it perfectly. Full marks from me.
https://www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk/event/dunedin-consort-with-matthew-brook/