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| James Ehnes & NAC Orchestra – Nationwide Arts Centre, Canada (Picture: Curtis Perry courtesy of Canada’s Nationwide Arts Centre Orchestra ) |
Violinist James Ehnes has a protracted relationship with Canada’s Nationwide Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra having made his debut with them in 1993, and he was artist in residence from 2021 to 2024. James additionally has a protracted relationship with the music of Bach, recording the whole Partitas and Sonatas in 2000 (re-recording them in 2020/21 on Onyx), and the Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord in 2006 on Analekta. Now these two strands have come along with the discharge final month of his recording of Bach’s full violin concertos with the NAC Orchestra on Analekta. The disc contains not solely Bach’s well-known concertos in A minor and E minor, the Double Concerto and the Concerto for Violin, Flute, and Harpsichord in A minor, but additionally 4 concertos reconstructed from Bach’s harpsichord concertos.
I not too long ago chatted to James, while he was in Adelaide, about his new disc, kinds of Bach efficiency and the way getting older has given him perspective, reconstructing Bach’s misplaced violin concertos, variations between stay and studio recording and discovering the best recording course of, and far more.
James explains that he all the time hoped to have an opportunity to document Bach’s violin concertos, however for him, most profitable recordings are these the place all the pieces peaks on the proper second (and he factors out that that is true of stay efficiency additionally). He has had a protracted relationship with each the NAC and the NAC Orchestra, having been artist in residence and toured with them. The final decade has been notably particular, so this appeared like the proper time to seize one thing of that relationship. James is aware of the gamers nicely and the concertmaster, Yosuke Kawasaki (who joins James for the Double Concerto) is a buddy from college. With the orchestra, James feels that he has as shut, open and clear relationship as doable which permits all to be energetic members within the music. And they’re supported by an important workforce on the NAC too, while the recording’s producer labored on James’ first Bach recordings.
Concerning the model of taking part in Bach, James feels that getting older has given him perspective; the best way you’re advised that one thing must be, adjustments over time. He has discovered this liberating, he now not feels that he has to play in a selected means however that he can think about telling a musical story. That is much more difficult with Baroque music, and while historic efficiency follow is essential, he additionally feels that musicians can study from performances of all ages. He mentions that we are likely to have a recency bias, feeling that what we’ve simply been advised is finest. This has most likely all the time been true, and Mendelssohn most likely felt this about the best way he carried out Bach. We will think about Mendelssohn’s performances of Bach being totally different to these of Bach himself however no much less compelling. That is timeless music that all the time speaks by means of a prism of our personal time.
He feels that there’s a parallel to the brand new music world, the place there have been occasions within the twentieth century when composers felt obligated to put in writing in a sure means, however there may be much less of that now. Folks might be themselves, and be appreciated for what they’ll provide. It’s comparable with Bach, which he has heard described as zombie music, i.e. unimaginable to kill! There are actually so some ways to carry out Bach and he doesn’t concentrate on being proper, however on telling a compelling story to listeners.
He has tried to reveal himself to lots of totally different efficiency views however feels no accountability to play Bach the best way another person feels that it must be. He sees his position as being that of taking part in the music the best way it speaks to him. Which means that there might be variations every time he performs the music. There’s a threat, and there’ll all the time be those that disagree with him. He has seen Bach performances that have been gradual and heavy, gentle and quick, metronomic, and free. All have been totally different and none have been proper. As he has bought older, he has grow to be much less paralysed by considering that this efficiency is his final one. Merely, a efficiency is simply the best way he felt the music on the time.
The disc, in fact, contains the concertos that James grew up with, what he calls the massive three. However over time he found that there have been different concertos. He knew the D minor concerto in its surviving kind as a keyboard concerto and it was identified to him about its origins as a violin concerto, one thing he finds very convincing. He turned fascinated and somewhat bought into the archaeology/detective work concerned in how Bach would take a bit after which remodel it, and there are many surviving examples of this. With Bach, we see his completed product as logical and inevitable, however going again to an earlier model is tougher, what James refers to as reviolinifying the harpsichord solo. Nevertheless it was fascinating the best way the concertos got here alive as violin concertos. The Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R, is an even bigger work than the A minor concerto and is extra virtuosic.
James admits that he’s a little bit of a completist, if he likes one he desires all of them, so in case you do three or 4 concertos then why not all of them? He didn’t wish to give the impression that the reconstructed concertos are usually not essential or that he didn’t like them. Additionally, having the concertos multi function place provides an fascinating overview of Bach’s violin concerto writing, and a greater sense of their breadth. There’s nice selection right here, showcasing 4 totally different Bachs – the mental, the virtuoso, the emotional and the songwriter.
Relating to recording Bach, there may be another mission that’s only a gleam in James’ eye in the meanwhile. He has loved performing the Brandenburg Concertos and would like to document them with the NAC Orchestra because the gamers are mates, superb each as individuals and as musicians.
Different recordings within the works embrace a set of Brahms’ sonatas which have been recorded however not launched but, and there’s a honest quantity of chamber music from James’ Seattle Chamber Music Society which has been recorded however not launched but. After we speak about recording (and he has launched a major variety of discs over time), he refers to recording as a compulsion. He admits that the recording course of just isn’t strictly gratifying and is demanding, however it’s worthwhile expertise and he has realized a lot from it, immensely worthwhile classes about his personal taking part in. He admits that in a strategic sense, his recording profession has not been dealt with virtually. He tends to document what he desires, taking over tasks as they arrive, in the event that they really feel proper. Generally this implies his discs cluster collectively, somewhat than being unfold out logically. Having a recording schedule can be excellent, however this isn’t the rationale he makes recordings.Â
On the finish of his life, the conductor Sir Andrew Davis made recordings of items that have been essential to him, because of this James, at quick discover, recorded with Sir Andrew. James did the recordings as a result of they felt proper, and admits that they won’t have occurred in any respect if he had fearful about his schedule.
James has recorded a lot of the main repertoire, however some issues come up once more and he finds he has one thing totally different to say. He talks about going again to his favorite musicians and listening to their recordings from totally different durations. If he data a piece once more, it isn’t as a result of he’s dissatisfied with the sooner disc, however as a result of the brand new recording is just a unique image. The previous recording nonetheless has worth, he was a unique particular person again then, however totally different now.
Concerning stay recording, he admits that that is tough partly as a result of this implies various things at totally different occasions. A stay recording with an orchestra could be a composite from recordings made on the costume rehearsal and three performances, plus a patch session, and at different occasions it could be a pure stay recording. Some items lend themselves to 1 course of or the opposite, and he has no most well-liked course of. While there’s something to be gained from stay efficiency, he feels that having time within the studio with a producer with whom you’ll be able to work carefully signifies that you’ll find particular issues. Generally actual intimacy is tough, making an attempt to create intimacy for ears in wildly totally different locations; with a stay concerto recording the microphone is 2 ft away from the soloist, while the again row of the balcony is 100s of ft away, giving a really totally different listening expertise. Then once more, a studio recording can get caught up within the weeds, while you get ineffable suggestions from stay efficiency.
At Seattle Chamber Music Society they do the costume rehearsal with the microphones on, which supplies them an opportunity to pay attention. They study rather a lot from listening again, that is the final stage of the artists’ progress, in order that in terms of the live performance they really feel they know what to realize and the way.
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| James Ehnes |
When James and I spoke, he was in Adelaide having simply flown in from Melbourne, as half of a giant tour of Australia and New Zealand, together with his spouse and youngsters with him. They began in New Zealand on 18 February, and the tour covers Auckland, Tasmania, Sydney Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide in addition to some trip on the finish earlier than flying again to the USA on 20 April! He loves Australia and New Zealand, having been travelling there for 17 years, the international locations have been good to him and it’s pretty to return again.
JS Bach: The Full Violin Concertos
James Ehnes violin | Yosuke Kawasaki concertmaster/violin | Jessica Linnebach affiliate concertmaster/violin | Charles Hamann oboe | Joanna G’froerer flute | Luc Beauséjour harpsicord
NAC Orchestra
Concerto for Solo Violin in A minor, BWV 1041
Concerto for Solo Violin in E Main, BWV 1042
Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043
Concerto for Violin, Flute, and Harpsichord in A minor, BWV 1044
Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060R
Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R
Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056R
Concerto for Three Violins in D Main, BWV 1064R
ANALEKTA
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