In the august realm of Old Masters, few are as masterly as Johann Sebastian Bach. The eminent and eloquent musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky sums up the importance of the great composer just so: “supreme arbiter and lawgiver of music, a master comparable in greatness of stature with Aristotle in philosophy and Leonardo da Vinci in art.” And after the musical lawgiver brings the stone tablets—the commandments etched upon them—down from the mountain top, what becomes of those laws? As you hear this evening, the answers are wondrously varied.
The Ideal (Dis-) Placements Concert Series at the Pulitzer is held in collaboration with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. The pieces performed relate directly to the exhibition Ideal (Dis-) Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer and are performed by members of the Saint Louis Symphony. Each of the programs are chosen by Music Director David Robertson based on the way they relate to the exhibition concepts and the works of art on view.
David Robertson, conductor
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Meditation on Bach Chorale: Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit (1993)
- Emily Ho, violin I
- Kristin Ahlstrom, violin II
- Shannon Farrell Williams, viola
- Melissa Brooks, cello
- David DeRiso, double bass
- Maryse Carlin, harpsichord
STOCKHAUSEN Adieu (1966)
- Andrea Kaplan, flute
- Barbara Orland, oboe
- Diana Haskell, clarinet
- Andrew Gott, bassoon
- Gregory Roosa, horn
BACH (1685-1750)/ arr. HARRISON BIRTWISTLE Bach Measures (1996)
- Andrea Kaplan, flute, alto flute and piccolo
- Carolyn Banham, oboe and English horn
- Diana Haskell, clarinet
- Linda Phipps, bass clarinet
- Andrew Gott, bassoon
- Bradford Buckley, contrabassoon
- Gregory Roosa, horn
- Joshua MacCluer, trumpet
- Gerard Pagano, bass trombone
- William James, glockenspiel and vibraphone
- Kristin Ahlstrom, violin I
- Emily Ho, violin II
- Shannon Farrell Williams, viola
- Melissa Brooks, cello
- David DeRiso, double bass
