Eroica Reveries

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Last night, I attended the Beethoven concert again, the Eroica symphony and his 4th piano concerto with the fabulous virtuoso playing of David Breitman. When I first heard this concert, during the funeral march of the Eroica, a flood of sensations and realizations swept through me that seemed to reduce into a brief moment 18 years of intensive coverage of the festival for print and broadcast media. Hard to describe but it was something like drinking warm spicy spirits that distilled the essence/legacy of the Bruno Weil years at the Bach Festival.

Something similar happened to me in Venice a few years ago during a performance of a Vivaldi cello concerto. My inner field of awareness altered suddenly and the city of Venice seemed to be opening up her Soul in a whirl of images, recognitions and feelings that I tried to write about later.

These are interesting but quite disorienting experiences.

These inner whirlings during the funeral march led, among other things, to a realization of how quietly heroic Bruno has been at the Bach Festival--in that way Beethoven seems to be describing in his third symphony – of a person serving the purposes of truth, freedom, beauty and high human virtues. No Napoleonic grandiosity; just a steady, compelling motion toward greater excellence under a lamp held high shining with the light of these aspirations.

Sandor Salgo left a legacy of heroic greatness as well over his 36 years, lifting the Bach Festival to a first-rate event while cultivating its vibrant connection to the local community. When the torch passed to Bruno 18 years ago, he faithfully built on the Salgo inheritance drawing upon a new generation of 18th century scholarship and historical instrument virtuosos to take the ensemble to the next levels. He not only understood and treasured the unique spirit of Carmel Bach but he founded a festival in Europe in its image – the Klang and Raum Festival of Bavaria.

Looking back 18 years through a time lapse lens, you also could say Bruno conducted our new hall into being.
He certainly gave the downbeat when he said he had taken the music of the festival as far as it could go without an acoustically excellent space in which to play it and hear it--adding that he would not stay on at the Bach Festival unless a commitment to a new hall were made.

With the rallying call, “Acoustics! Acoustics! Acoustics!” consensus was built for the project, money raised, expert designers hired and in a few short years, we had a new jewel of a facility.

That and much more surged through me as Eroica played. I had planned a different piece about opening weekend for a Monterey Herald article. I was intending to emphasize schedule details, free stuff, the new format for the program book, the raffles, ticket sales issues, etc. More light and practical than thoughtful. But the Beethoven reveries altered my tone.

Here is a shortened version of that article, which has received positive comments:

Patrons gathered at dusk last Friday evening to celebrate the opening of the Carmel Bach Festival on the spacious terrace of Sunset Center. Brass Tower Music warmed the open air with courtly dances of John Adson and Peter Warlock while celebrants sipped champagne or Bellini cocktails and nibbled tasty bites.

Like an elf from a magical otherworld, a tiny young girl materialized under a camellia tree near the steps to the upper patio transfixed by the music leaning into it from her secret bower.

Friends greeted one another happily and basked in the harmony of the evening. The festival youth chorus sang a short set of works, directed by John Koza, sweet pure voices to delight the heart. These opening moments of music and greeting that come every summer touch into a tradition that reaches back 72 years.

As music director and conductor Weil says, the festival is unique in the world, a musicians dream come true. “It's the real friendships that grow that make it so special,” he says. “Nowhere else in the world I have I found this.” The secret of the great performances here, according to Weil, is that everyone pours themselves fully – heart, soul and spirit – into the music.

Poignantly, Weil, who cherishes the Bach Festival as the most personally rewarding work of his musical career, will be leaving at the end of the 2010 festival, making this year’s programs the beginning of the conclusion of his tenure of almost two decades. It is wise to leave at the height of accomplishment, he says, not the downturn.

So as the beautiful brass melodies caressed the breeze causing the little elf child to hug herself with delight beneath the camellia tree, a sense of change also filled in the air. Weil will have only one more opening night in Carmel as will his concertmaster Libby Wallfisch, mega-star of Baroque string playing. We don’t yet know who Weil’s replacement will be, though the search committee has narrowed the candidates down to a handful from which to choose.

Weil’s trajectory has always been towards greater perfection of the music. He has guided and improved the quality of the ensemble each year so that now he truly offers the best of all his years in Carmel. Friday and Saturday evenings were luminous musically, especially the Haydn Creation Oratorio. Weil seems to be reaching for the firmament to give us something deeper and more inspiring than ever on the eve of his departure.

It’s a precious experience we have here with the Carmel Bach Festival, a rarity in the world that even many local music lovers don’t realize. And it is about to change. These are among the last concerts of the Bruno Weil years and, sadly, due to the economically necessary decrease of performance weeks from three to two this season-- and next we are told--the opportunities to hear recitals and concerts are fewer than before.

Though the Bach Festival will continue building on the new excellence it has attained, Weil and Wallfisch will be with us for only a few short weeks this summer and next, As my Midwestern grandmother used to say, “It’s the last day in the afternoon.”

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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