| Lancette Arts Journal Founded in 2000 |
Feature Stories From our Archives |
September 2005 |
By Alidë Kohlhaas
Bach, i.e., Johann Sebastian Bach, means different things to different people. To some he is the epitome of a musical genius, to others he is a big bore, whose music can only be tolerated in church. Of course, there are those whose appreciation of the prolific composer lies somewhere in-between these extremes, who can recognize the composer's greatness without being completely bowled over. Whatever the individual's inclination toward J. S. Bach, there is no doubt that the International Bach Festival at the University of Toronto (U of T) can shed some illumination on the composer for anyone, Bach lover and Bach hater alike, through the medium of Helmut Rilling.
Maestro Rilling is considered one of the leading authorities on the music of Bach and his contemporaries. He is currently the Nicholas Goldschmidt conductor-in-residence of the yearly International Bach Festival at U of T's Faculty of Music. He is also the one who will, through combined lectures and performances, interpret Bach to the listener in a variety of presentations from October 1 to 9. Of course, he will not be the only one. A host of national and international artists will join him in the various programs during afternoon and evening performances throughout the nine days.
Since Rilling, who founded the Gächinger Kantorei in 1954 and then in 1965 the Bach Collegium Stuttgart, is seen as the Bach ambassador around the world, I arranged a brief e-mail interview with him. It is not the best medium to conduct an interview, especially since he did not have the time to sit at the computer to answer back and forth, but only replied to questions sent to Germany ahead of time to an assistant. Nevertheless, an interesting exchange . . .
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