February 9, 2025
“The Bach Bowl: Concert of J.S. Bach”
Emerson Hall, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Soloists: James Zellers, flute; Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, oboe; Stuart Stephenson, trumpet; Emily Daggett Smith, violin; Jessica Shuang Wu, violin. The Society Chamber Orchestra: Helen Kim, Michael Zhao, Christopher Pulgram, Lisa Yancich, Alice Hong, violins; Joseph Skerik, Yiyin Li, violas; Guang Wang, Roy Harran, cellos; Jonathan Colbert, bass; Julie Coucheron, harpsichord.
Johann Sebastian BACH: Concerto for Oboe and Violin in Cminor, BWV 1060R
Johann Sebastian BACH: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043
Johann Sebastian BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in FMajor, BWV 1047
Mark Gresham | 12 FEB 2025
For football fans and music lovers alike, the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta’s annual “Bach Bowl” offers a pregame tradition of a different kind: a one-hour, high-energy program of concerti by Johann Sebastian Bach, ensuring attendees can get their musical fix and still be home in time for the Super Bowl kickoff.
Held Sunday afternoon at the Schwartz Center’s Emerson Concert Hall, this year’s event featured three of Bach’s finest concertos, each highlighting different solo instrumental combinations and showcasing the agility of the conductorless, ad hoc Society Chamber Orchestra.
The program opened with the Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor, BWV 1060R, featuring oboist Elizabeth Koch Tiscione and violinist Emily Daggett Smith. The pair navigated the dialogue between their parts with effortless fluidity, Tiscione’s clear, expressive phrasing complementing Smith’s nimble and articulate violin lines.
This particular concerto is a reconstructed work attributed to Bach. While no original manuscript survives, scholars believe it was originally composed for oboe and violin in Bach’s Köthen period (1717–1723) or early Leipzig years (1723–1750) before being adapted by Bach into a harpsichord concerto (Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060), part of a set of keyboard concertos Bach likely arranged during his time directing the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. The piece has been reconstructed in its likely original form for oboe, violin, and string orchestra. An “R” appended to the BWV number has been used since 1990 to denote reconstructed works based on a lost original, hence BWV 1060R.
Smith remained onstage for Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043, this time alongside fellow Vega Quartet violinist Jessica Shuang Wu. The duo delivered a vibrant, well-balanced performance, bringing a natural conversational quality to the intertwining lines of the first movement. The slow movement unfolded with graceful lyricism, offering a moment of repose before the lively finale, which had a sense of joyous urgency.
Bach likely composed this concerto between 1717 and 1723 during his tenure as Kapellmeister in Köthen, when he focused heavily on instrumental music. The work was written for two violin soloists and a string orchestra with continuo, following the Italian concerto grosso style popularized by composers like Vivaldi. As he did with the Concerto for Oboe and Violin, Bach himself later transcribed the work as a concerto for two harpsichords in C minor (BWV 1062), but in this case, the original version was never lost.
Closing the concert was the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047, an ideal finale with its bright, buoyant character and demanding virtuosity. It’s one of the six concertos that Bach compiled and presented to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721, celebrated for their inventive orchestration and vibrant interplay between soloists and ensemble. No. 2 stands out for its distinctive concertino group of flute, oboe, violin, and a particularly demanding trumpet part.
Stuart Stephenson, principal trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra who had given a masterclass at the Schwartz Center the previous day, navigated the notoriously treacherous high-register part with clarity and brilliance on a B-flat piccolo trumpet, blending seamlessly with flutist James Zellers, oboist Tiscione, and violinist Smith. The chamber orchestra provided a stylishly robust foundation while ensuring that Bach’s intricate counterpoint remained both buoyant and transparent.
With its concise format and lively pacing, the “Bach Bowl” remains a spirited reminder that great music need not compete with great sports—it can simply be the perfect warm-up act. Fans of both disciplines left satisfied, their ears delighted and their game-day plans intact. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta: chambermusicsociety.emory.edu
- Emily Daggett Smith: emilydaggettsmith.com
- Elizabeth Koch Tiscione: aso.org/artists/detail/elizabeth-koch-tiscione
- Jessica Shuang Wu: music.emory.edu/people/biography/wu-jessica.html
- Stuart Stephenson: stephensontrumpet.com
- James Zellers: music.emory.edu/people/biography/zellers-james.html
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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