As of: October 11, 2024 2:45 p.m
This year’s Bachtage will take place in Rostock this weekend. The great composer Johann Sebastian Bach should also be made interesting and accessible to people who would otherwise not be interested in his music.
The program includes six concerts; International artists interpret the composer very differently. “Bach is having a renaissance. He is being rediscovered. There are large fan groups all over the world who travel to concerts and want to listen to and experience interpretations of Bach music everywhere, including in Rostock,” says Birger Birkholz, chairman of the Rostock Bach Association put together the concert series.
For the fifth time, the association is organizing a festival weekend in honor of the composer. Because after the successful Bach Festival 2019 in Rostock, things should continue. But putting together a multi-day concert program every year is a challenge, says Birkholz. When it comes to the question of which musicians should be asked for the Bachtage, Johanna Stremmler advises the organizers. The violinist, who also performs with the string quartet Armida at the Bachtage, knows the scene well.
“If Bach were a contemporary composer, he would have millions of followers on social media. Bach would be a superstar.” Birger Birkholz, organizer of the Rostock Bachtage
Bach’s Cello Suites on the Marimba
This year’s Bachtage program features renowned and partly international artists: For example, the Spanish composer and percussionist David Moliner with arranged versions of Bach’s cello suites on the marimba and the Turkish pianist Serra Tavsanli with a piano concerto entitled “With Bach into the present”.
What would Bach himself probably say about these different interpretations of his works? He would probably be irritated, says Birkholz: “I’ve often thought about what Johann Sebastian Bach’s music might have sounded like during his lifetime, what the instruments sounded like there? At what tempo the music was played? What priorities did Bach himself set would have?”
AUDIO: How much Bach is there in current pop music? (4 mins)
Birkholz thinks that the composer would probably be “very surprised” by how people interpret and record his music today, what focal points and what changes in playing style would be heard: “I think his ears would ring if he heard his Bach music today and he would actually be there in Rostock or somewhere else.”
“Bach still has a modern touch”
Even those who think they haven’t really come into contact with Bach’s music yet are in the right place at the Bach Days: “It’s incredible when you spend a long time dealing with it. Almost everyone who learns an instrument has to do with Bach at some point. And Bach actually still has such a modern touch, a modern approach and, especially through contemporary interpretations, that’s exactly the right thing.”
The music of Bach – it makes the Nikolaikirche, the Baroque Hall and the University Church in Rostock sound this weekend. By the way, attending the Bach service in the Rethwisch Evangelical Church on Sunday is free of charge.
More information
On “Bach’s Roots” the Ensemble Voces Suaves and the Academy for Early Music Berlin focus on music that influenced Johann Sebastian Bach. more
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NDR Culture | Cultural Journal | Oct 11, 2024 | 7:30 p.m