By Charlotte Dutton

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yyk9-g4Orc]

Oberlin alumna and virtuosic violinist Jennifer Koh ‘97 returned to her alma mater on Thursday as part of the Artist Recital Series to perform a solo concert entitled “Bach and Beyond,” commemorating the composer’s 325 birthday.

This first recital of a three-concert series purports to “explore the solo violin repertoire” from the sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach (St. Michael’s School, 1702), and through later composers’ paeans and tributes, with the intent of demonstrating “the progression of Bach into the present.” To these ears (and connected gray matter), this is a worthy and exciting project.

Part One of the “Bach and Beyond” program that Jennifer put together is comprised of pieces composed in the remembrance of or tribute to previous composers and pieces. She began with Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E major, a three movement piece consisting of Prelude, Loure and Gavotte en Rondeau, and segued right into Eugene Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 2 in A major, which opens with a direct quote of the first two measures of the Prelude in the Partita No. 3 in E major, and continues to quote or reminisce on this opening passage from the Prelude for the remaining three movements of the piece.

She then played Elliott Carter’s Fantasy—Remembering Roger an ode to Roger Sessions followed by Kaija Saariaho’s Nocturne—In memory of Witold Lutoslawski. She closed her first half with the world premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Lachen verlernt, a piece written in the style of a chaconne, a piece which provides variations over a repeated bass line. Jennifer finished with Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor, a four-movement work known largely for its justifiably famous and sublimely beautiful

Chaconne.

Audiences and performers like their classical concerts to have “hooks” or some other unifying factor that ties the concert up with a nice little bow. As Jennifer stated, the program showed the progression from Bach’s solo violin music to the present solo violin repertoire. There was another unifying factor in the program: the obvious level of difficulty in each piece and the absolute virtuosity needed to pull such pieces off. Jennifer pulled off two hours worth of treacherously difficult music with fire and dexterity.

Virtuosity is an important and enduring aspect of the performing art, and Jennifer excels in this area. Bookending her performance of showy music with the two magnificent partitas was a wise decision on her part. The technical demands made by the Carter, Saariaho and Ysaÿe pieces threatened to swarm their emotional and intellectual content, and served to emphasize the inherent greatness of the original source. The most difficult virtuosic passage work in these show pieces paled in comparison to the balanced perfection of Bach’s urtexts— not one note too many nor too few—rendering any extraneous hip gyrations and head jerks appropriate to the more virtuosic works unnecessary in the Bach. Here the soloist and instrument should be subsumed into the world of Bach’s magisterial soundscape.

The Salonen was interesting because it was accompanied by a video by Tal Rosner, the meaning of which was lost on me but was intriguing and thought provoking nonetheless. Both the video and the piece were world premiers; the video opened with three lines cut perpendicularly by a fourth. It looked like a violin and bow that followed the lines and contours of the piece most gracefully. I was especially impressed by the intricate choreography between the violin and film.

Jennifer is a true mistress of her instrument, and she possesses the ability to make it do whatever she asks of it. Though her tone was clean and beautiful, and her phrasing clear, I felt more attention had been expended on the non-Bach offerings, and the originals suffered as a result. This may be a function of the concert’s format: Beethoven may have been the lucky beneficiary of the progress and development of Haydn, but pairing his “Eroica” Symphony with Haydn’s “Le Matin” would surely overwhelm the latter.  Jennifer’s amazing technical prowess was perfectly suited to the later works, but seemed at times superfluous within Bach’s.

Perhaps in smaller doses, the concert would have found a balance closer to my tastes.  “Portion control” is an everlasting problem within America’s kitchens and concert halls, where the main courses are Bach, and the salad and dessert are Carter and Ysaÿe, followed by a café Salonen.  This concert seemed more “beyond” than “Bach,” for the main course seemed not to be the contemplations and ruminations of Bach, but the technical virtuosity found in the other pieces.

I propose a fourth part to Jennifer’s “Bach and Beyond” concert series: the complete sonatas and partitas of J. S. Bach performed by Jennifer. Rather than programs, audience members might be handed blank tablets and writing implements. No intermission, no applause, no encores, but lots of time for meditation, contemplation, reflection, and introspection. An afternoon of Bachtion!