Betty Liang
Kangwon Kim, violin.
The Madison Bach Musicians begin their impressive 15th season this weekend with a trio of concerts celebrating the work of two superlative contemporaries, Handel and Bach.
The opening concert took place Oct. 5 at Grace Episcopal Church. The first half of the program is devoted to Handel. There are two pairs of vocal works: two of the nine “German Arias,” setting Brockes’ Pietistic poetry, and two familiar arias from Handel’s Italian operas (“Lascia ch’io pianga” from Rinaldo, and “Tornami a vagheggiar” from Alcina). In between them comes one of his sonatas for violin and continuo, in F major (HWV 370).
Bach is the star of the second half, which includes arias from two different cantatas, BWV 58 and 61. Surrounding these are a Prelude and Fugue in C major (BWV 870) from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, and two movements from the Suite No. 3 in C (BWV 1009) for unaccompanied cello. As the finale, we get the aria, “Laudamus te” from the Gloria in the B-minor Mass. At the pre-concert talk, director Trevor Stephenson, in his usual breezy but well-informed fashion, provides a good comparison between the lives and styles of the two composers.
The backbone of the concert is the instrumental team that Stephenson has put together. Starring in the Handel sonata is Kangwon Kim. She is outstanding for stylish precision but also for surprisingly strong sonority drawn from her gut-stringed violin, played with minimal vibrato.
Also solid is the playing of cellist James Waldo, in both his solo stint and his almost total role as continuo player. Likewise, Stevenson’s harpsichord playing is fundamental. The other participating players are violinist Nathan Giglierano and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt.
All of the vocal works are sung by soprano Chelsea Shephard, a UW-Madison graduate and an obvious audience favorite. This latest showing finds her voice grown ever more strong and rich, with a handsomely uniform and glowing tonal range. But I must confess my own reservations about one aspect of her performance, her vague and mushy diction. She has become one of the many singers today who love vowels but pay little attention to consonants, which are the elements that define texts. It is true that the high soprano range puts a particular strain on diction, but she is too fine a singer not to devote extra care to strengthening this dimension of her artistry.
This program will repeat Saturday evening Oct. 6, at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Spaight Street, and Oct. 7 at Park Hall in Sauk City.
