Reviews 2018
Reviews 2018
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by Johann Sebastian Bach / Toronto Masque Theatre, directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin
Toronto Masque Theatre, Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, Toronto
February 8-10, 2018
“All the diamonds in this world
That mean anything to me
Are conjured up by wind and sunlight
Sparkling on the sea” (Bruce Cockburn, 1974)
For a joyful, life-affirming evening of music-making, you could not make a better choice than Toronto Masque Theatre’s production of The Peasant Cantata by J.S. Bach. Bach’s cantata is only a half hour long so to complement it, TMT has created a cabaret called All the Diamonds featuring a wide range of songs, old and new, classical and popular, with interludes of poetry all united by their use of imagery of the night sky. The TMT production is in the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, a cosy, historic venue well suited to capture the warmth radiated by the musicians’ performances.
Bach’s secular cantata’s are like mini chamber operas and lend themselves very well to staging. I last saw Bach’s Coffee Cantata staged in an overelaborate yet amusing production by the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio in 2003 when the Ensemble still had its own performance showcase. The Peasant Cantata, formally known by its first line and catalogue number as Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet, BWV 212, was written to a libretto by Christian Friedrich Henrici to celebrate the 36th birthday of Carl Heinrich von Dieskau, Saxon-Crown-Princely Kammerherr to the Rittergut Kleinzschocher near Leipzig, the city where Bach was the Kapellmeister to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, and Thomaskantor, or choir director, for Leipzig’s four Lutheran churches.
The Kammerherr would typically receive homage from the local peasants, which explains why the cantata is full of praise for what Werner Neumann’s witty translation calls the new “squire”. Neumann has replaced all the time-specific local references in the libretto with more general ones and director Guillermo Silva-Marin has updated the setting to the present. Thus, the self-identified “peasants” of the piece seem mockingly to be referring to themselves as simply not belong to the wealthy one percent.
There is no real plot to the cantata but rather a look into the everyday lives of two peasants – an unnamed Farmer (Giles Tomkins) and Mieke, here renamed Molly (Patricia O’Callaghan), the Farmer’s wife. They criticize the tax collector who would leave them with only their hair if he could, but praise the Kammerherr’s wife for her prudence. They praise the Kammerherr himself for helping the Farmer get out of the military draft. Otherwise, the happy couple flirt with each other, practice dancing and sing songs to be ready for the celebrations in the local inn.
As befits the lower status of the characters, the songs are straightforward, strophic and influenced by folksongs and dance music. The result is absolutely charming and Bach’s unexpected changes of rhythm keep the work a constant delight.
People are so used to hearing Patricia O’Callaghan in a cabaret setting that it is a treat to hear her sing in a formal, classical style. With her light, clear soprano and her expressive face, she makes a fine counterpart to Tomkins’s pleasantly stolid Farmer. The scenes where she encourages the unwilling man to dance are warmly amusing. O’Callaghan’s most memorable aria is likely “Klein-Zschocher müsse”, about how happy the Kammerherr’s town should be, limpidly sung over runs played by the recorder.
As director, Silva-Marin gives the performers many chances to intermingle with the audience, the most amusing of which is when Molly hands out tax bills from the CRA. The playing of the six-member ensemble under Larry Beckwith at the violin is sprightly, joyful and strongly conveys the dance rhythms which with the piece is imbued.
After the interval the stage is reset from its minimalist setting of the peasants’ room to a cabaret format with places for the musicians on stage rather than to the side as in the Bach. The cabaret begins in a wonderful fashion with all nine of the performers entering through the audience while singing a cappella the beautiful 19th-century part-song “In This Hour of Softened Splendour” by Anglo-Italian composer Ciro Pinsuti. This show of communal singing, including not just the four soloists but the actor Martin Julien and the four musicians, underscores a commonality of purpose and of expressing our shared lot as human beings living under the night sky. It is fitting that the cabaret should end with a song in which the audience is encouraged to join in – the American folksong “Oh, Watch the Stars”.
The range of the musical selections is wide – from Franz Schubert to Bruce Cockburn – but the variation from style to style is so well chosen that the selections of music and poetry create a marvellous portrait of the both the fear and the beauty of the night sky and how its presence humbles us in awe.
Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman begins suitably enough with Claude Debussy’s melancholy chanson “Nuit d’étoiles” (1880) sung with great expressivity and later sings Hoagy Carmichael’s classic “Stardust” (1927) with its long, seldom heard introduction. Yet, the song, that likely leaves the strongest impression is one she wrote herself when she was only seven years old, “Kinanu”, a lullaby to help her new baby sister go to sleep. Later she orchestrated the song to reflect both the Celtic and the First Nations sides of her heritage. The song, with Newman singing while accompanying herself on a hand-held drum, is mesmerizing and filled the audience not just with the love of one sister for another but of one earthly being for another.
While we are accustomed to hear Larry Beckwith’s violin playing, it is a delightful novelty to hear him sing. He uses his head voice to give a fine performance of Bruce Cockburn’s “All the Diamonds” (1974) with Newman and O’Callaghan providing backing vocals. Later he switches to a classical voice for a lively account of Schubert’s “Die Sterne” (1828) that worked wonderfully with a funky arrangement for piano, electric guitar, bass and drums.
While the songs chosen by the singers range between the melancholy and the uplifting, it is left to actor Martin Julien’s selections of poetry to make us look at the night sky in a more contemplative way. His beautiful recitation of Emily Dickinson’s “We grow accustomed to the dark” (c. 1862) brings out the full irony of the poem. His vigorous declamations of Lord Byron’s “Darkness” (1816) and Shelley’s “To Night” (1821) make these early Romantic poets sound like the fiery writers who turn up at poetry slams today. “Darkness” with its vivid description of an apocalypse that ends in the death of all life seems uncannily relevant. Yet, strangely, it is the poetic prose of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (1980) that most clearly relates us to our place in the universe – “Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home”.
Despite all its modern inclusions, the cabaret gives the impression of the way people used to entertain each other before the invention of radio or television. The performers, like guests, show their talents and their choice of material in the best light in order to entertain each other. As an audience we feel privileged to witness this artistic exchange and feel included in it.
In short, this double bill of Bach’s portrait of ordinary life and the following cabaret about our life made extraordinary by its setting in a sea of stars generates a strong feeling of well-being. The time spent with these wonderful artists in the peace and symmetry of the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse provides a much needed air of sanctuary from the noise and chaos of the world outside. One left buoyed with the sense that life, no matter how humble or minuscule in the context of the universe, is a thing to be treasured and celebrated.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photos: (from top) Kathleen Kajioka (viola) and Marion Newman (with drum) during All the Diamonds; Giles Tomkins; Patricia O’Callaghan. ©2018 Toronto Masque Theatre.
For tickets, visit https://peasantcantata.brownpapertickets.com.
2018-02-09
The Peasant Cantata / All the Diamonds