Since it was founded in 1979, the period instrument orchestra Tafelmusik has been an elite ensemble. Known for its superb musicianship, innovative programming and extensive discography, Tafelmusik continues to break new ground. Tafelmusik’s new album features music by Johann Sebastian Bach, including their daring new take on the Orchestral Suite No.2 with a solo violin replacing the solo flute.
Violinist and director, Jeanne Lamon, is celebrating her 30th anniversary at the orchestra’s helm. The orchestra will be touring the U.S. in November, including a November 18th concert at Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall. Lamon chatted with Ariama editor Craig Zeichner about the orchestra’s new album and future projects.
Ariama: The new album is appealing on many levels, it’s familiar yet different.
Jeanne Lamon: I think you’re probably referring to what’s usually called the flute suite. You know Bach wrote very little orchestral music and a lot of what he wrote was actually the same thing in a couple of forms. For example, he probably wrote most of his keyboard concertos as arrangements of concertos he had already written, usually for violin. The other thing is that as players of baroque music and lovers of Bach, we find that we don’t have enough Bach to play. We love playing the Brandenburg Concertos and the other concertos, but that’s pretty much all there is. So it’s great when you figure out that there’s another arrangement of a piece.
Ariama: Making use of what is already there in some ways.
JL: Yes. In the manuscript of the Bach flute suite, there are a couple places where Bach crossed something out because he had written the wrong note. This is not typical of him, he doesn’t write wrong notes. In this instance he had written the note one step too low. So obviously he was copying from something that was a step lower and just made an error in transferring it from one manuscript to another. It suggests that maybe the suite was originally in A minor and not B minor. The violin is usually the instrument he’s transcribing from and that’s what he did with the harpsichord concertos, so the suite fits absolutely brilliantly on the violin in A minor.
Ariama: Ear-opening for many?
JL: I think it’s interesting for people to hear it. It gives us another piece to play and I think it works very well. As a flute suite it has issues that are difficult to understand. For example, there’s nowhere to breathe in the overture. Bach is not usually that unkind to the flutist, is he?
Ariama: To my ear there’s a depth of feeling in the violin version that’s not there in the flute version. It’s a more profound music.
JL: Well, you know I’m a violinist and going to agree.
Ariama: Tafelmusik has always struck me as so versatile; you’ve worked with vocalists like Daniel Taylor on the new album, with choruses, and with great soloists. In January 2012 you’ll be performing Handel’s Hercules.
JL: Yes, Hercules is pretty exciting and it’s a piece that doesn’t get done enough. For some reason it’s in the same category as Semele, one of two operas in English. It will be very exciting to do because it’s really great music and rarely heard because I guess opera directors don’t think it’s quite operatic enough. Performing it is how I want to celebrate my 30th anniversary as Tafelmusik’s director.
Ariama: You have some exciting things coming up.
JL: We are performing our new multimedia project, House of Dreams (which the orchestra is busy memorizing) in Toronto in February. And we are also going to Versailles to work with Toronto's Opera Atelier who, as far as I know, is the only baroque opera company in North America. We are going to be doing Lully’s Armide in Versailles for two or three performances.
Ariama: Now that you are 30 years in, did you ever imagine it would be like this?
JL: No. It’s one of these things you take one step at a time and then suddenly you have this really great idea or somebody in the orchestra has a really great idea. It’s all inspired by what you are hearing or what you are learning about the repertoire. One idea sparks another. I feel like it’s a very creative time at Tafelmusik. In 30 years we’ve had ups and downs, but I have never experienced such a feeling of high artistry and high morale as we have now.
by Craig Zeichner, Ariama Editor
