Matthew White loves J.S. Bach. Reveres him. Is constantly beguiled by him.
But when he was choosing the program for the 2017 Vancouver Bach Festival, he also wanted to use Bach’s popularity as a springboard to exploring other, less well-known composers.
There’s been 1,000 years of what’s collectively called classical music, says the executive director of Early Music Vancouver, which hosts the summertime music festival in downtown Vancouver. And while the masterpieces deserve to be applauded generation after generation, the festival is “a neat opportunity to go on a journey and discover things that people aren’t as familiar with.”
The festival is halfway through its roster — it closes with Bach’s magnificent St. John Passion on August 11 — and we asked him to highlight three concerts that will make that journey as intriguing as the destination.
Before Bach: “The Fountains of Israel” by Johann Hermann Schein (1623)
Tuesday, August 8
7:30 p.m. (pre-concert talk at 6:45)
Christ Church Cathedral
Johann Hermann Schein was an “enormously gifted composer” 100 years before Bach. This piece is a madrigal written in German but fused with the “sensual, even sexual” style of Italian music of the time.
“If you like the St. John Passion, you’ll also like this and it will add to your enjoyment,” White says.
Heavenly Love: Sacred Arias for Counter-Tenor
Featuring Alex Potter
Wednesday, August 9
7:30 p.m. (pre-concert talk at 6:45)
Christ Church Cathedral
Back in the days when CBC Radio was playing more classical music, it was easier to keep up with emerging performers, White says. Counter-tenor Alex Potter is one of those singers whose name might not yet be familiar to Canadian audiences but who is well-established in Europe.
“Some people say he sounds like John Bowman at his very, very best,” says White. “He doesn’t sound like a mezzo-soprano; he sounds like a man singing in a cultivated falsetto.”
Although the songs in the concert are deemed sacred music, they were probably sung as entertainment right at the beginning of the baroque period.
Music of Missions and Mysteries: Latin American Baroque
Thursday, August 10
7:30 p.m. (pre-concert talk at 6:45)
Christ Church Cathedral
There has been much celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and its gifts to music. What’s lesser known is the Catholic church’s attempt to steal back some of the spotlight.
As chorales replaced Gregorian chants, “back at the ranch the Catholics were doing their best to create a counter reformation,” White says.
This concert focuses on music used to help convert First Nations peoples in Latin America. “It’s full of rhythm and joy,” he says. “The Latin American music is full of pluckers, too — lutes and harps — so it’s a totally different sound world.”
It features Grammy-winning Stephen Stubbs on lute and guitar.
The festival also includes an afternoon series of three lunchtime concerts (August 8, 9 and 10 at 1 p.m. and free film screenings (August 8, 9 and 10 at 4 p.m.), all at the downtown Burrard Street church. The August 11 St. John Passion is at the Chan Centre. Details are at EarlyMusic.bc.ca.
