Bach Musica NZ’s third concert in 2025 opened with the seldom heard Bach Cantata ‘Vergnuegte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust’ BWV 170. Again, a most perfectly appointed Bach Musica NZ Orchestra under their masterly leader, Yanghe Yu, welcomed a most expectant audience to an initially peaceful rendition of intricate Bach music.
Bach composed his cantata in 1726. Whilst in its first aria ‘Vergnuegte Ruh’, Bach’s music peacefully revolves around contented rest and joyful harmony, he returns to his profound sadness about the alleged deterioration of the world around him is in the recitative, also expressed in his restless music.
Scored for oboe d’amore, flute, strings and continuo, conductor Rita Paczian directed from the harpsicord. Alison Dunlop’s impeccable and highly sensitive oboe d’amore effectively underscored the strings, eventually being joined by Agnes Harmath’s expressive flute in the cantata’s final aria, “Mir ekelt mehr zu leben.” (It sickens me, to live any longer).
This concert saw a re-union with counter-tenor Stephen Diaz, still remembered for his remarkable performance in Bach Musica NZ’s December 2023 concert of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio I – III. Once again, Stephen Diaz demonstrated remarkable strength, clarity and a specific glow in his counter-tenor-voice, widely carrying a sole dialogue between himself and the orchestra, and successfully navigating some distinct difficulties the composer put in his way. Stephen Diaz is fast establishing himself as the leading counter-tenor in this country.
A positive concert-highlight was Bach Musa NZ’s rendition of G.F.Handel’s “Let the Bright Seraphim” from his opera Samson – not only, as it represents a star-moment in Handel’s work, but also because of its association with Kiri Te Kanawa and her memorable performance of this work at Charles’ and Diana’s wedding in 1981 – and last not least because of a reunion with international soprano, Gina Sanders – once an understudy to Kiri Te Kanawa.
With Rita Paczian again directing from the harpsicord, an incredible concert-moment unfolded in a rapturous dialogue between the passionate and refined soprano of Gina Sanders, totally immersing herself in Handel’s sublime creation – and the amazing solo-trumpet of Orson Paine, who carried this insightful dialogue with great sensitivity and a delightful, enduring precision.
Authority and splendour, the unquestionable attributes of the Bach Musica NZ chorus and orchestra, once again came to the fore in Johannes Bahm’s ‘Geistliches Lied’, a devotional work of great nobility, composed in 1864. It is renowned for its most serene ‘Amen’ and was especially reset for chorus and orchestra by Rita Paczian – and for this performance.
Following the intermission, Gina Sanders returned impressively in Russian composer Vladimir Vavilov’s ‘Ave Maria’. Bach Musica NZ’s chorus and orchestra again demonstrated their vast artistic flexibility with a passionate rendition of Samuel Barber’s melodious ‘Agnus Dei’, and leading NZ Tenor, Iain Tetley, demonstrated refined and authoritative poignancy in Maurice Ravel’s ‘L’aurore’.
Always open to new composers and coming out in support of their work, Rita Paczian once again inserted a ‘World Premiere’ in her programme. She introduced Hungarian composer Gabor Tolnay, now a NZ-resident, who was present at the launching of his work ‘Dawn at the Bay’. His composition impressively describes the awakening of a new day at the water’s edge, embarking on an orchestral journey from a haunting pianissimo to an arresting fortissimo and in the end activating full orchestral force of impressive drama – a remarkable composition, which will make its way in Aotearoa and abroad.
A brief personal reference to Bach Musica NZ’s Artistic Director and Conductor, Rita Paczian:
It was shorty after the ensemble’s second concert in June 2025, when om 11 July 2025 she and her oboist-husband faced a complete destruction of their family-home as a result of the devastating Tasman-floods. They virtually lost everything. Their home happened to be precisely in the pathway of a 2 m high and 5 m wide rolling wall comprising dirty water, silt and massive logs and boulders – a natural disaster of unimaginable proportion, an occurrence, which would have crumbled every normal human being but not Rita Paczian!
With enormous discipline and energy, she remained on the pathway of loyalty to Bach Musica NZ audiences and her artistic commitments. Unfailingly, and whilst dealing with her enormous personal tragedy, she therefore still prepared for and conducted last Sunday’s concert it. Bach Musica’s Artistic Director and Conductor therefore demonstrated enormous human sacrifice, commitment and endeavour, adding a very special dimension to last Sunday’s concert-performance.
Rainer W. Buhmann for NZON