Midori’s First Bach++ Program for SFP

Violinist Midori (photograph by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, courtesy of SFP)

Last night Midori returned to Herbst Theatre to present the first of two solo recitals under the auspices of San Francisco Performances (SFP). This was her ninth SFP appearance, the first of which took place in November of 1998. As was the case at her SFP recitals in March of 2013, she prepared a program to account for the complete works for unaccompanied violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. However, she planned her two programs to interleave four recent works, each by a different composer, “woven” between the Bach selections.

While this approach to programming is an engaging one, it is far from novel. Those that have followed my work for some probably know about Jennifer Koh’s Bach & Beyond series of three albums released by Cedille Records between November of 2011 and December of 2020. However, Koh’s “journey” gave far more attention to showcasing recent composers.  Because Midori’s selections were fewer, the attentive listener was more inclined to accept them as “reflections” on the Bach one had just heard and the Bach one was about to hear.

Last night’s program began with the last two of the three sonatas: BWV 1003 in A minor and BWV 1005 in C major. These were separated by “Nun Komm,” composed by Thierry Escaich. Those that know their Bach will quickly (immediately?) associate that title with “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,” the Advent chorale that Bach arranged for the very first selection (BWV 559) in his Orgelbüchlein. Bach also arranged it twice for his “Leipzig” collection of eighteen chorales (BWV 659 and BWV 661). This theme appears briefly at the very beginning of “Nun Komm;” but Escaich clearly has his own agenda for the violinist, providing a jaw-dropping plethora of technical demands, all of which Midori satisfied with an almost casual sense of grace.

The two sonatas followed the same formal structure. A slow movement serves to introduce a fugue, after which another slow movement leads to an allegro. Midori has clearly cultivated a solid technical foundation for performing polyphony, and the triple-stop playing in the BWV 1005 fugue was positively jaw-dropping. There is a good chance that Bach composed these works for pedagogical purposes. Nevertheless, Midori clearly knew how to work beyond the technical challenges to present engagingly expressive accounts of both sonatas.

The second half of the program concluded with the BWV 1004 partita in D minor. This is best known for the concluding Chaconne movement. This single movement usually lasts for about a quarter of an hour, and it is as packed with technical demands as can be found in “Nun Komm.” Once again, Midori knew how to bring musicianship to her approach to those demands; and this single movement was clearly the “grand finale” of the evening.

On the other hand, the four movements that preceded the Chaconne were less satisfying. This had also been the case in 2013. Midori seems to give little attention to the fact that the title of each of those movements is a dance form. While it is true that we probably will never know very much about the dance steps associated with each of those forms, there have been many violinists that knew how to capture the spirit of the dance, even if the “letter” may not have been honored. Midori, on the other hand, seemed more occupied with the technical challenges behind the notes; and, while those challenges were met, there was to little sense of spirit to make the interpretations engaging.

BWV 1004 was preceded by the other recent composition. This was Annie Gosfield’s “Long Waves and Random Pulses.” This was inspired by the significance of radio transmissions during World War II and the need to “jam” signals to make sure that they were not intercepted by the enemy.

Gosfield’s score has an electronic version in which jamming figures significantly. However, Midori played the solo violin version, in which the violinist is challenged to simulate the sounds of electronic jamming. Midori seemed to have no trouble capturing the spirit behind this composition and the “letter” of the technique of acoustic simulation. Technical details aside, however, this was music that probably needs more than one listening experience before really appreciating the composer’s intentions; and I would be only too happy to encounter to this music again, on recording if not in performance.