By Daniel Buckwalter
A glorious pastoral landscape came into sharp focus when the Oregon Bach Festival’s Baroque Orchestra took center stage. Exquisite all-around grace was sprinkled with spritely and melodic elegance, and there was even a dash of nobility.
It made for a wonderful, serene evening on July 8 at the University of Oregon’s Beall Concert Hall, with concertmaster Augusta McKay Lodge leading the ensemble through selections from Jean-Féry Rebel, Georg Phillip Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
Perhaps the greatest beauty of Baroque music — especially played with period instruments — is that you are able to listen to the sweet, serene magic in short bursts, almost in short-story form. They are truly soft vignettes in otherwise busy days.
Indeed, the concert on this particular evening could have been performed on the large swath of lawn between the UO’s Knight Library and the School of Music and Dance. It seemed like the romantic thing to do, because the only thing missing from this night, it seemed, was wine and light snacks.
It certainly didn’t lack for quality music. Rebel’s The Elements featured the work of flutists (led by principal Emi Ferguson) and oboists (led by principal Debra Nagy), and there was a flowing, dance-like quality to it.
Telemann’s Hamburg Ebb and Flow is delightful and quick-moving, a 10-movement piece that evokes images of crowded and lively 18th century dinner parties where you can get endlessly lost in multiple conversations.
After intermission came the superb performance of J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, with Lodge and Marc Destrubé taking center stage. It was, for me, the highlight of the evening, watching these two virtuosos in perfect concert with their violins.
If you are able to attend next year’s Oregon Bach Festival, be sure to buy a ticket to hear the OBF Baroque Orchestra. You will be glad you did.
