When baroque oboist Alfredo Bernardini first performed with Tafelmusik in 1982, the baroque oboe was a much rarer specimen than it is today. “At the time,” he says, “there were only a handful of baroque oboists in the world.” Bernardini was fortunate, then, to be performing alongside his teacher Bruce Haynes, an early pioneer who uncovered a lot of the history, repertoire and technique of the instrument. Bernardini also considers himself fortunate, now, to be returning to play with Tafelmusik, a group he holds in high esteem.
Tafelmusik “is a very special group,” he says. “It is one of the very rare baroque orchestras in the world in the sense that they work full-time. …You can hear that the orchestra is used to playing a lot with each other and have a very strong musical identity.” For his upcoming concert with Tafelmusik, Bernardini will be joining the group not as second oboe, as he did in the 1980s, but as guest conductor.
For Bernardini, choosing the repertoire for this concert was “a very easy process.” After a few exchanges with Artistic Co-Director and Principal Bassoonist Dominic Teresi, the pair settled on repertoire by Bach, Handel, Telemann and Fasch. “These are all composers from exactly the same period from the northeast of Germany, so the region of Saxony and Thuringia,” says Bernardini.
Despite coming from the same region, these composers’ pieces are remarkably varied. The Bach suite and Fasch overture are written in the French style—that is, with “many dance movements which are very rhythmical.” On the other hand, the concertos by Handel and Telemann are written in the Italian style, with melodious, cantabile slow movements, and brilliant fast movements that are very virtuosic.
Bernardini describes the Telemann concerto as “very happy, jolly music.” This piece is a “dialogue between three oboes and three violins; it’s like musical Ping-Pong between one section and the other. It’s like a little piece of sport.” While the instruments in this concerto “chat with each other in a very funny way,” Bach’s music features a more solemn dialogue. The oboes’ long-held notes depict the transcendence of God, and the fast-moving violins represent the busyness of humanity below.
As a conductor, Bernardini strives to highlight the differences in the pieces. “There are important differences, and we have to sort of change masks between one and the other piece,” he says. Yet, “the musicians of Tafelmusik are experienced and well-trained in this repertoire, so they will know how to handle all of this.”
Tafelmusik’s concert, Triple Espresso runs Feb. 21-23 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre in Toronto. www.tafelmusik.org
