This is very apparent in his Cantata, Gott ist mein König (God is my King), BWV 71, which was the subject of a combined lecture and performance of this work on October 3 at the University of Toronto's International Bach Festival. Composed to celebrate the inauguration of the Town Council of Mühlhausen by a 22-year-old Bach, it is both secular and spiritual in nature.

Maestro Rilling, who serves as the Nicholas Goldschmidt conductor-in-residence of the festival, now in its second year at the university's Faculty of Music, did a thorough job of explaining Bach's intentions in composing this early work. It is, by all appearances the work of a young man eager to display his abilities. One even got a little feeling that now and then the youthful Bach seemed to be saying musically "There, take that," and at the same time, with his choice of text, had the temerity to regale the new Mühlhausen council with a spiritual lecture. Quite audacious, one can only say.

Just 18 minutes in length, the cantata offers a variety of approaches, borrows from the past and Bach's present; it is both a praise of and a lecture to the good Burgers of Mühlhausen who are about to take on the governing of their town.

Maestro Rilling's approach to the music was to practically analyze each line of text and music, the use of different instruments and the reason for this. He thereby told his audience the whys of each of the seven verses in the piece. It certainly led to giving the listeners a better understanding of what the musicians were about to perform. These musicians were the International Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra consisting of members of the University of Toronto MacMillan Singers, Israel's Moran Chamber Ensemble and the Elmer Iseler Singers supported by members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. The soloists were soprano Laura Albino, mezzo Jillian Yemen, tenor Lawrence Wiliford, and baritone Trevor Bowes.

Yet one wonders if Rilling, despite his often humorous comments, actually added to the enjoyment of the piece. When it was finally performed in its entirety, it came as a near let-down despite the excellent performances of singers and musicians. There is such a thing as explaining too much to a general audience. While I am sure that the faculty of music students in the audience learned something, this kind of lecture cum performance hardly seems the ideal way to attract new listeners to Bach.

Rilling chose this particular cantata on purpose for the October 3 presentation. It happened to coincide with the 15^th anniversary of the unification of the former East and West German countries into the young Federal Republic of Germany. As a consequence many members in the audience appeared to be from the German community, and also present were members of the foreign consular corps in this Walter Hall presentation.

The event was preceded by what was described as a Cantata Café in which the audience was able to meet the artists. In addition to being able to purchase wine and beer, the eager Bachians could indulge themselves on those large salted and unsalted soft southern German pretzels that for some reason have taken over Toronto as 'the' German delicacy of the moment. One wonders why they were served there, for one doubts that Bach would have even known these pretzels as he strayed very little from his Thüringian surroundings. Still, the 'German' tone was set as the audience entered the Walter Hall for the concert, and Maestro Rilling's approach to Bach completed it.

Bach has much to offer an eager listener. Yet, there is good reason for why some people shy away from him or avoid his music all together. The particular cantata chosen for this concert gave the impression that here is a composer who thinks more than he feels. This was emphasized by Rilling's ardent analysis, no matter how humourous he tried to make it at times. One would hope that the next Bach festival, set for 2006, has more to offer to the general listener and places less emphasis on the 'academic' side of the festival. What we need here is a little of the Peter Schickele approach with his P.D.Q. Bach to bring in ordinary folk.