Albany Consort: BWV 211 for JSB’s Birthday

In reviewing my archives I discovered that my “first contact” with a celebration of the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (JSB) took place at a Noontime Concerts™ event at Old St. Mary's Cathedral and also involved my “first contact” with the Albany Consort. That was in March of 2009, marking Bach’s 324th birthday; and the celebration involved a performance of Bach’s BWV 211 secular cantata “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht” (once freely translated by a poet friend of mine as “All right, you guys, shut up;  and listen to me!”), known more familiarly as the "Coffee Cantata." PIcander (Christian Friedrich Henrici), better known for his texts for the sacred cantatas, prepared a text involving a father (Herr Schlendrian) who cannot abide by his daughter Liegen’s coffee fix; but she gets the better of him when she demands that her marriage contract include the right to drink three cups of coffee every day.

This year marks Bach’s 337th birthday; and, once again, The Albany Consort is celebrating with a Noontime Concerts™ program concluding with BWV 211. This time, however, the celebration is on a YouTube video recorded to an “empty house” in Old St. Mary’s, due to pandemic conditions. Jonathan Salzedo is still the director, leading the performance from his harpsichord. The vocalists are bass Ben Kazez as Schlendrian, soprano Rita Lilly as Liegen, and tenor Corey Head as the narrator delivering the opening lines and sporting a Starbuck’s-style apron. The instrumentalists are flutist Lars Johannesson, violinists Joe Edberg, Rachel Hurwitz, and Daria D’Andrea, violist Alisa Stutzbach, cellist Farley Pearce, Roy Whelden on violone, and Marion Rubinstein at the organ.

BWV 211 was preceded by two instrumental selections by Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann, respectively, each represented by a concerto. The program began with Bach’s BWV 1044 concerto in A minor for flute, violin, and harpsichord, all three of whose movements were appropriated from other sources. The first and last movements are the keyboard prelude and fugue from BWV 894 in A minor, while the middle movement comes from the slow movement of the BWV 527 trio sonata for organ in D minor. Salzedo observed that the harpsichord is the leading soloist in this concerto, leaving it to other instruments to provide accompaniment.

Lars Johannesson and Marion Rubinstein as soloists on flute and recorder, with violinist Rachel Hurwitz and Jonathan Salzedo at the harpsichord (screen shot from the video being discussed)

The Telemann concerto was TWV 52:e1 with recorder (Rubinstein) and flute as the soloists. Salzedo observed that there are few compositions in which both recorder and flute perform at the same time. In that context it is worth observing that the sonorous blend of these two instruments could not have been more satisfying. This may have been Telemann’s way of showing off his skills with an unanticipated technique. In that respect it is probably slightly ironic that his ingenuity should have been harnessed in the celebration of Bach’s birthday!