Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra

Thursday, March 21,
8:00 p.m. Orpheum.

One of the world's most
iHustrious orchestras, the
Israel Phifharmonic, will
appeor under the baton of
its celebrated Music Direc-
tor, Maestro Zubin Mehta.

Because the date of the
concert happens to be the
precise date to the day of
the birthday 300 years ago
in Eisenach, Germany of
Johann Sebastian Bach, it is
only natural thot Maestro
Mehta ond the IPO should
devote the first port of their
concert to works by the
composer universally ack-
nowledged to be one of his-
tory’s greatest. creative and
innovative geniuses.

The orchestra will begin

Sunday, March 31,
8:00.-p.m. Queen
Elizabeth Playhouse.

The Vancouver Society for
Early -Music will present a
very specia! concert in
cooperation with the Van-
couver Bach Festival, with a
performance of some of the
favourite cantatas, concer-
tos,:and_ other instrumental

with the Brandenburg Con-
certo No. 3 in G Major,
BWV 1048. Following that,
Maestro Mehta and the IPO
-will be joined by two young
Israeli violinists — Roy Shi-
looh and Shira Ravin — for

Wednesday, March
27, 8:00 p.m. Reci-
tal Hall, UBC Music
Buiding.

In concert, organisi Lionel
Rogg.

Some reviews: Paris —
...@ first class recital... .in-
telligence and flexibility of
his polyphonic playing, logic
and colour of his registra-
tions and the rhythmic solid-
ity of his executions. — Le
Figaro (Olivier Aloin).

Montreal — Extraordinary

music by Bach, played on
instruments of the period.
Several of Vancouver's
finest. singers ond instrumen-
talists in the field of early
music will join forces for this
festive concert. Soprano Erica
Northcott, baritone Gary
Dahl and tenor Ray Harris
will be the featured solcists
in the Coffee Cantata, a
work which shows the lighter
side of Bach's genius. Doreen

a performance of the bril-
liont Concerto for Two
Violins and Orchestra in D
Minor, BWV 1043.

In the second half of the
concert Maestro Mehta will
switch to the music of 19th
century Russia for o perfor.
munce of the sweeping
Symphony No. 6 in B Minor
(“Pethetique") by Peter tlyich
Tchaikovsky.

Acsit for the New York
Pos! on-s noted that the IPO
“comes across as an ensem-
ble of tremendous personal-
ity”. And after an appear-
ance in Toronto the orchestra
earned this tribute from the
Globe & Mail: “Under Zudin
Mehta's direction, The Israel
Philharmonic responded with
ropture in their faces and
power in their sound”.

Lionel Rogg Organist

Recital — Certainly there are
few recitalists in the world
today who could equal the
performance he gave, and |
know of none who could
surpass it at its heights.
—Stor.

New York City —...it
was all Bach, and here Rogg
came into his own. The Trio
Sonata...bounced merrily:
olong in a fight, delicate
way; the Chora! Prelude...
sang elegantly, and the Pas-
sacaglia brought things to a
noble close. — The New
York Times. ‘ :

| ‘The Coffee Cantata

Oke and Jackie Retzlaff
will perform one of his best
known ‘concerti for two
harpsichords and orchestra,
and the programme will be
rounded off by other vocal
and instrumental works of
the greot master of the
Baroque. Flautist Elissa Poole
will be heard on the baroque
flute, and the baroque string
ensembie will be led by
John Sawyer, baroque vio-
tn.

} Collegium Vocale Ghent

Wednesday, April 3,
8:00 p.m. St. An-
drew's-Wesley
Church, Burrard &.
Nelson.

The Vancouver Society for
* Early Music will present the
world-renowned Belgian
choir, Collegium Vocale
Ghent, in concert, It will be
the first Vancouver appear-
ance of the. 25-vcice Colle-
gium Vocale, conducted by
Philippe Herreweghe. The
choir has gained its reputa- |
tion on this side of the ocean
primarily through its partici-
pation in one of the most
impressive recording projects
of the last fifteen years: the
complete recording of Bach's
cantatas with the Leonhordt
Consort on Das Alte Werk.
Collegium Vocole has also
collaborated frequeitly with
Sigiswald Kuijken ond La
Petite Bonde, with Ton

Koopman and Musica
Antique Amsterdam, and with
Nikolaus Harnoncourt and
the Amsterdam Concertge-
bouw Orchestra.

For its first North Ameri-
can tour, this superb ensem-
ble will present music by
Johann Sebastian Bach and

some of his ancestors —
Johann Bach (1604-1673)
ond Johann Christoph Bach
(1642-1703). Two of J.5.
Bach's splendid motets, “Jesu
meine Freude”’ and “‘Singet
dem Herrn ein neves Lied
will be the highlight of the
evening.

ee ial

Saiurday, April 6,
at 8:30 p.m., Mon-
duy, April 8, at 8:30
p.m. Tuesday, April
9, of 7:30 p.m.
Orpheum.

35 - Sunday, March !0, 1985 - North Shore News

Van. Symphony Orchestra
/ Bach Choir

The Vancouver Bach Choir
and celebrated soloists will
be featured with the Van-
couver Symphony Orchestra
under the direction of Gerard
Schwarz in the third concert
of the Great Composers ser-
ies.

The first part of the pro-
gramme honours the tricen-
fennial this yeor of the birth
of two of the greats, Handel
and Bach. Following Han-
del’s glittering Royal Fire-
works Music, Bach's cele-
brated Cantata No. 80 (Ein
feste Burg ist unser Gott) will
display the artistry of the
Vancouver Bach Choir and
soloists Ingrid Suderman,
soprano; Phyllis Mailing,
alto; Stephen Wall, tenor;

and James Patterson, bass.

The second port of the
programme is devoted to the
music of Wagner, with the
Preludes to Act land Il from
Lohengrin, and the Preludes
to Acts | and Hl from Parsifal.
Good Friday Spell, alse from
Parsifal, concludes the
progromme.

Under the leadership of
conductor Bruce Pullan, the
Vancouver Bach Choir has
attained an enviable reputa-
tion for excellence. The choir's
repertoire now spans the
entire choral literature. While
the ensemble traditionally
performs large choral works
with orchestra, the choir also
sings many unaccompanied
works.

Hugh McLean Organist

Friday, April 12, 8:00
p.m. Ryerson Church.

Hugh Melean is Cana-
dian bora and received his
early musical training in
Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Later he went to England on
scholarship, where he stu-
died piano and organ at the
Royal College of Music in
London.

As on organ recitalist, Mr.
McLéan has played in ail the
major Canadion centres as
well as in San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Chicago. and
Minneapolis, 0

McLean is well-known in
Canada as a musicologist
speciolizing in seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century stu-
dies. He has published défin-
itive editions of the organ
works. of Purcell and Krebs

.-and wrote nineteen articles

for the new edition of Grave's:

- Dictionary. In 1977. his con-

tribution to musicology. in
Canada .was recognized by
election to a Fellowship of
the Royal Society of Canodo.

Purcell String Quartet
/Pacific Winds |

Sunday, April 21,
8:00 p.m. The Gran-
ville Istand Arts Club
Theatre.

In the last few weeks of his
life, J.S. Bach — sick, nearly
blind, and in great pain (he
hod allowed an operation

on his eyes) — decided to
compose a statement, a mus-
ical “last will and testa-

meni". The result is The Art
of Fugue, a work consisting
of eighteen sections, in which
every device of instrumental
counterpoint is exploited to
the fullest. On casual con-
sideration, this music might
be expected to be dry or
academic; in fact, the oppo-
sile is the cuse — indeed, the
final “Contrapunctus 18°, a
monumental triple fugue in

which Bach introduces the
“B-A-C-H’” theme, is one of
the most thrilling and, at the
some time, shattering expe-

Peter Hurford
Organist

Tuesday, April 23,
8:00 p.m. Ryerson
Church,

Peter Hurford, Concert
organist.

An organ recital with music
by Bach. Sponsored by the
Royol Canadian College of
Organists.

riences in music. Bach died
during the ‘process of com-
position; the fugue is un-
finished.

tae