Happy Birthday, Bach! – Venice Music Project guest BACHaro tour Ensemble

Bacharo tour’s principal goal is to popularise “learned music,” by playing it live in venues and contexts normally not used to hosting it. The name comes from the learned composer par excellence (Bach) and the Venetian word to indicate an inn (bàcaro): professional musicians play Bach’s music in the Venetian inns with the guide of a musicologist, whose aim is to link the musician with the unexperienced listener. As a matter of fact, Bacharo Tour was born as a spin-off of a didactic radio broadcast of Radio Ca’ Foscari, web-radio of University of Venice. The cultural level of the listener does not matter at all: Bacharo Tour Association was created specifically to demonstrate that Bach’s great music can be enjoyed at all different levels, and can speak to everyone, if listened to consciously and not passively.

Tonight’s programme depicts Bacharo Tour’s spirit and aims quite well: the great luminescence of the third cello suite is interpreted by the instrument for which it was composed, exploiting its idiomatic, auditory and most typical gestural features. The second piece (BWV 1013) represents an ambiguity, or – better – an ambivalence: music written originally for flute is played by a violin. In Bach’s epoch, it was normal to exchange flute and violin: these carry very different musical potential, but their brightness and agility make them perfect solo instruments. The harpsichord concerto links Bach to Venice, as the German master was inspired by Antonio Vivaldi to influence the style in which he composed his own concertos.