Unique in its kind, by focusing primarily on the compositions of a single ---and enormous--- creator, Johann Sebastian Bach, the Bachcelona Festival resumes its journey, one more summer, to offer concerts that take advantage of emblematic corners of the city, although not usually linked to musical performance. We think, for example, of the Doménech i Montaner hall of the modernist Sant Pau complex, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Pi or La Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera. Of course, some of the events have been programmed in reference concert halls, such as L'Auditori or the Caixaforum stage, where interesting musical cycles and conferences take place every year.
The figure of Bach, however, remains the fundamental attraction for the Barcelona public, with whom he has a love story that goes back to immemorial times, even if it can be traced and related, for example, to the unusual skill with which Pau Casals interpreted his instrumental works ---the suites for solo cello--- and the affection with which he programmed his concertante and choral pieces, among which the Suite in D. A composition that opened the evening of a remote October 13, 1920, at the Palau de la Música. It is no coincidence, but a product of this affinity, that the modernist temple dedicates a Palau Bach cycle to him throughout the ordinary season, which it does not do ---for example--- with two other great names in the popular imagination, fundamental to the history of music, such as Wolfgang A. Mozart or Ludwig van Beethoven.
The so-called "kantor of Leipzig" may not have stood out for the apparent creative spontaneity of the former or for the expressive genius of the latter, a beacon of subsequent Romanticism. But the truth is that the intricate character of Bach's melodies and their possibilities of revisitation ---and fusion with other current genres--- hook a wide audience: a certainly disparate spectrum of music lovers, including lovers of mathematics or architecture as well as musical experimentation or sacred art, without one aspect necessarily excluding the others. Surprisingly, the precision and stability of Bach's musical grammar simultaneously enables the transformation of materials, in dialogue with other traditions and thus opening up to different interpretive conceptions.
Surprisingly, the precision and stability of Bach's musical grammar simultaneously enables the transformation of materials, in dialogue with other traditions
And it is that, beyond the tendency towards historicist recovery, which promotes the musical criteria of the Baroque era, Bach's success in Barcelona has to do with his timeless character, which Pau Casals already emphasized. The universal scope of his proposal shines with renewed brilliance even outside its original context, within the framework of a personal commitment moved by Lutheran faith ---Bach's with divinity--- as humble as it is fruitful and transcendent for music lovers of all kinds. In this sense, precisely, the inauguration of the festival will take place at L'Auditori on July 1st with the programming of two Cantatas (BVW 146 and BWV 169) and a Motet (BWV anh. 159) officiated by Japanese conductor and violinist Shunske Sato, with the outstanding participation of soprano Mercedes Gancedo.
The Goldberg Variations can be heard in an unusual recreation, with the audience lying on sun loungers concentrically placed around the harpsichordThe next day, a very original concert can be enjoyed -"Nocturnal Bach"- in a double session, the second of which at 10:00 PM, with very justified nocturnality. Not in vain "the evening puts the focus on the piece that ---according to the anecdote--- Bach composed to alleviate Count Keyserling's sleepless nights. We refer to theGoldberg Variations, which can be heard in an unusual and highly appropriate recreation: with the audience stretched out on sun loungers concentrically located around the harpsichord from which Inés Moreno Uncilla will dispense moments of solace and reverie. The originality of the proposal is perpetuated in other sessions programmed for different ---or unusual--- audiences but no less sensitive to music, as is the case with children's audiences.
Thus, at the Teatre Akadèmia, "Bach per infants" will take place ---in two sessions on Saturday, July 3--- which the organizers describe as "a show without text, inspired by melodies by J. S. Bach. Simple, tender and close," with the intervention of voice and instruments such as the transverse flute, the ukulele or percussion. Other interesting concerts, of a minimalism that never ceases to fascinate, are those dedicated to suites, partitas and sonatas for string instruments, which will be performed by cellists Clara Pouvreau and Markku Luolajan-Mikkola. The technical complexity of these pieces and the introspection they invite has been a profound reason for reflection for violinist Gidon Kremer, protagonist of the documentary Back to Bach which the Filmoteca de Catalunya projects on July 4 also within the framework of the Bachcelona Festival.
Concerts have been programmed for different -or unusual- audiences but no less sensitive to music, as is the case with children's audiencesThe creative freedom of Bach's work, as well as the opportunities it offers for improvising interpretive excursions, will be demonstrated once again by the Catalan pianist Carles Marigó in collaboration with video artist Francesc Isern, who in the double session on July 7 (7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.) of the show "Breaking Bachwill project images in dialogue with music in the Caixaforum auditorium in Barcelona.
BACHCELONA SOLIDARIO
We cannot fail to mention a very special series of concerts, whose entire proceeds will be allocated to social projects (Xamfrà, Fundació Plat del Pobre, Fundació Obra Mercedària, Fundació Ana Ribot). We refer to the concerts starring the Ensemble Brudieu and vocal soloists in Santa María del Pi on July 5; by the Duo Cassadó in the Modernist Enclosure of Sant Pau on July 6; by organists and singers from ESMUC in the Basílica de la Mercè ---that same day---; and, finally, by a string trio formed by musicians from the Gran Teatre del Liceu who will close the Festival in La Pedrera on July 8 playing an adapted version of the Goldberg Variations. This is a concert of great interest, as it is rare to witness live the transcription of that mythical work, in which ---thanks to the separation of voices into different timbres and performers--- the confluence and proliferation of melodic lines will be highlighted. As in the other three concerts, the organizers warn that a "fila cero" (zero row) will be enabled to make contributions in case one cannot attend the concert or wishes to make a donation.