SPCO shines with its seasonal presentation of ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos

As part of its annual tradition the St Paul Chamber Orchestra presents five out of the six Brandenburg Concertos written by Johann Sebastian Bach While not composed as Christmas music the festive spirit of the works aligns perfectly with the season making them a beloved secular treat The concertos also reveal the magnetism and intimacy of the chamber form With peculiar combinations of instruments often highlighting players who don t typically get the spotlight the music allows individual musicians to shine within small agile ensembles The Friday performance began with the Brandenburg Concerto No featuring three oboes two horns and a violin soloist With its merry spirit and dance-like capacity the work s warm sound derives from the resonant horns while the oboes add a delicate timbre Eunae Koh delivered an impressive assertive report on violin her lines weaving through the texture with clarity The second movement opens with the startling beauty of an oboe solo soon taken up by the violin In the third a horn ascends so high it nearly mimics the softness of a flute By the fourth the various sections exchange phrases like members of a lively assembly each contributing its own voice to the spirited conversation The St Paul Chamber Orchestra performing at the Ordway in The Orchestra is performing Bach s Brandenburg Concertos at the same venue through Dec Claire Loes The St Paul Chamber Orchestra The orchestra then moved to the Sixth Concerto the only work in the set that omits violins entirely With two violas at the center the piece settles into a warm dusky sound During the second movement a mellow tone emerges lines unfolding with a quiet glow that feels inward and unhurried Then in the third movement a familiar melody jumps brightly in and out of the texture before slipping into double time creating a swirling sense of motion that lifts the concerto s darker palette into something unexpectedly buoyant After intermission came the Fifth Concerto where the harpsichord takes command Jeffrey Grossman played with ceaseless motion shifting gears effortlessly and attacking Bach s intricate passages with assertive vigor The harpsichord s extended cadenza at the end of the first movement feels almost unhinged in its exuberance evoking the frenetic resource of a video tournament soundtrack The undertaking then moved to the Third Concerto a piece so popular with candidate orchestras that its opening bars are practically a rite of passage But in the hands of the SPCO the work s structure came into sharper relief Though it technically lacks designated soloists the writing turns nearly every musician into one each line racing through quick motion and tight interplay The ensemble s articulation was crisp giving the music a buoyant athletic edge a pulse that reflects the mathematical precision underlying all the concertos Bach s Brandenburg Concertos are pure geometry an exercise in balance and weight in the adornment of each line and in the beauty of musical mathematics Their invigorating pulse can feel almost physiological quickening the heartbeat as one pattern unlocks another Completely the performance concluded with the Fourth Concerto featuring principal violin Kyu-Young Kim alongside flutists Julia Bogorad-Kogan and Alicia McQuerrey Kim played with a light quicksilver touch spinning out fast notes with a dancer s poise while the two flutes echoed and entwined around him brightening the texture with airy brilliance The concerto s interplay nimble conversational and joyous made for an uplifting finale St Paul Chamber Orchestra What Bach s Brandenburg Concertos When p m Saturday p m Sunday Where The Ordway Washington St St Paul Tickets thespco org Capsule A secular holiday tradition relishing in the chamber form Related Articles St Paul Chamber Orchestra announces balanced budget Headliners broadcasted for third annual Minnesota Yacht Club Festival Rod Stewart to play the Grandstand in what s likely his final local concert Raul Malo the soulful tenor and frontman of The Mavericks has died at age Goo Goo Dolls Toto Christopher Cross and Avenged Sevenfold to play Shakopee amphitheater