Chicago Classical Review

In remarks delivered at Bach in the City’s season-opening concert music director Jason Moy spoke about a certain stigma around the word “baroque,” which for many invariably means familiar and often predictable music. Moy promised a program to showcase “all the facets of the many different styles of baroque music.” 

True to his word, Bach in the City delivered a captivating performance of varied baroque music in a program titled “Fantasticus” Sunday at DePaul University’s Allen Recital Hall.

The concert began with Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s C-major Sonata à 6, an energetic piece that served as a sampler for the ensemble’s unique makeup: two violins, two violas, viola da gamba, lute, natural trumpet and keyboard continuo. Violinists Amelia Sie and Alyssa Campbell were each featured as soloists in downtempo, recitative-like passages, in which both musicians showed mastery of musical phrase and the non-vibrato style. Bookending the piece was a joyous trumpet-led refrain reminiscent of Vivaldi’s “Spring” concerto from The Four Seasons.

The ensemble pared its forces for Dietrich Buxtehude’s Sonata in A Minor, BuxWV 272. Buxtehude’s name is mostly synonymous with his organ preludes (whose influence is borne by the organ masterworks of Bach), but Bach in the City’s compelling performance of the sonata demonstrated the immense worth of Buxtehude’s ensemble works. 

The piece is built on a repeating bass motif, much like Buxtehude’s Passacaglia for organ, but the Sonata achieves more interesting timbres through combinations of violin, viola da gamba, lute and portative organ. Sie was once again impressive in her soloistic moments, as were Anna Steinhoff in her viola da gamba duet with organ and Brandon Acker in his extended lute solo.

Johann Rosenmüller’s Sonata Decima à 5 proved an unconventional sonata for its era with sporadic tempo changes, punctuating unexpected rests and a quirky, understated ending. Also unconventional was the amount of vibrato used by the strings.

Bach in the City ended the concert’s first half with Ach, dass ich Wassers genug hätte, a lamento for countertenor by Johann Christoph Bach. (This JC Bach is an older cousin of Johann Sebastian—not his identically named brother and not to be confused with Johann Sebastian’s sons Johann Christoph Friedrich or Johann Christian.) Although Ryan Belongie’s countertenor voice was fitfully covered by the ensemble, his technical facility in the high and slow work was remarkable, and his musical interpretation created a fittingly sorrowful atmosphere.

After intermission, the ensemble returned to Biber, this time performing his Sonata violono solo representativa. This is a concertante work in which the violin mimics (often atonally) the sounds of birds and other animals, like a 17th-century version of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” symphony. The comedic effect of the mimicry wore a bit thin by the piece’s end, but the piece was nevertheless an interesting showcase of an unusual style of baroque composition, well played byAmelia Sie.

Pachelbel’s famous Canon and Gigue in D Major followed,  a work more familiar today as ubiquitous wedding music, than in its original period version. Bach in the City did justice to the crowd-pleaser, taking the work at its intended quick tempo and soaring through the lively gigue with ease.

After exploring well-known and obscure baroque works throughout the program, Bach in the City finished with a celebrated cantata by their namesake, Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51. Although a relatively popular cantata, the work is somewhat mysterious in that it features an extremely demanding soprano part even though women were generally barred from singing in church in Bach’s time. 

Hannah De Priest conquered the challenging soprano line with poise and precision: She made her part sound easy, but her lightning-quick breaths were a constant reminder of the immense physical demands of the part. De Priest’s German diction wasn’t always perfect, but those issues were vastly overshadowed by her impressive range and bringing tasteful operatic drama to this sacred work.

Throughout the concert, Moy added to the afternoon’s pleasures by sprinkling anecdotes pertaining to the programmed composers—such as J.S. Bach traveling 200 miles by foot to see his idol Buxtehude, or Rosenmüller escaping German jail and fleeing to Venice (thus inadvertently cross-pollinating Italian and German musical styles).

Bach in the City performs the Christmas Oratorio 7:30 p.m. January 8, 2027 at St, Vincent de Paul Parish. bachinthecity.org

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