What is there to do on a windy Sunday morning? That's right, attend a harpsichord concert. And that is exactly what I did. On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 28, in a concert sponsored by the Brandeis Music department, Robert Hill performed an exquisite rendition of "Three Partitas for Harpsichord" by J.S. Bach in the Slosberg Music Center. The event was titled Kaffeekonzert II, probably as homage to both Bach and Dr. Hill's German heritage. This KaffeeKonzert was the second Brandeis has seen; last year on Nov. 20 was the premiere of the KaffeeKonzerts, at which Dr. Hill also preformed Bach.
For those who don't know what a harpsichord is, and I have to admit that I was a little uncertain myself, it looks similar to a grand piano but with two rows of keys. The only way to describe the sound is twangy; it vibrates in a nasally way, almost like a violin or cello. Once played, the keys have a sustained ring of about three or four seconds depending on how hard they are hit. A piano, by contrast, has a much duller sound. Hill, however, made this potentially harsh-sounding instrument have a beautiful and melodic tone.
The stage setup was humble and modest but also elegant. On the center of the stage sat the beautifully pale green harpsichord with a small, dim lamp hovering over the keys. Once the performance started, the audience was enveloped in darkness, and the only light came from the lamp on stage, emitting a glow that surrounded the harpsichord and Hill. About 40 people attended, not bad for a Sunday morning with hurricane warnings. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to see a dozen or so undergraduates sitting together near the back of the hall, enjoying the concert as much as anybody.
Hill is a master of his art in every way. He maintained a calm demeanor and regal pose as his fingers flew across the keyboard, creating a multilayered sound out of the fast and complex partitas. The partitas, which are groups of musical pieces, evoked many emotions; the music was teeming with juxtaposition of happy and sad; wild and calm; angry and reticent; and tension and release. The audience was clearly entranced by the music looking around. You could see that nobody was shuffling or talking, they were simply staring at the stage, mesmerized by Hill's performance. After every movement of each partita, the audience waited expectantly for the next movement in hushed anticipation.
Hill played three partitas by Bach: "Partita in B flat Major," "Partita No. 3 in A Minor," and "Partita No. 4 in D Major." Each partita consisted of seven smaller movements, each with their own character, even though all of the movements in each partita were in the same key. Each partita culminated in a gigue, a lively and happy movement.
Hill received his Ph.D. at Harvard University and his dissertation focused on "problems of authenticity and sources of the early keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach," according to the program. His current research at the Staatliche Hochschule f??r Musik Freiburg in Germany explores the "reconstruction of 19th-century performance practices." Based on his work with authenticity, I think it is fair to say that this performance was probably an authentic performance of Bach's work, both musically and aesthetically on stage. Indeed, the humble setting resembled a 17th century concert.
The beautiful concert was a lovely getaway from strenuous midterm season and if there were to be a KaffeeKonzert III next year, I would go in a heartbeat.