Sunday, Jan.11
BACH: MORE OR LESS
Omaha Symphony’s Symphony Joslyn
Tiffany Haas, soprano. Brian-Mark Conover and Adam Goos, tenors, Cody Jorgensen, baritone, Earnest Richardson, conductor
Joslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Hall, 2200 Dodge St.
2 p.m., Tickets: $33 www.omahasymphony.org
Looking inside the Bachs we discover an enormous amount of great music for over 100 years starting with J.S. and continuing with that, of his sons Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian. The joys of three of them resound in this concert. Add to them the astonishing accomplishments of presumably-related P.D.Q. Bach, about whom Professor Peter Schickele, who unearthed such works, is still digging around looking for significant twigs from the family tree.
This entire event could brighten up a winter afternoon given Johann Christian’s dynamic Grand Overture for Double Orchestra, a colorful symphony by Carl Phillip Emanuel and the famed joyous cantata by J.S. Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (Exult in God in all lands).
One work by P.D.Q is sandwiched in between the larger slices of life by J.C. and C.P.E. , The Art of the Ground Round which requires a rare combination of vocal talents to get to the meat of the matter. And, not to be underdone, another P.D.Q effort is served, the provocative cantata Iphigenia In Brooklyn So much has been written and said about P.D.Q and the Professor’s credentials that it seems ridiculous to call any of that to your attention. Let’s just say that you might want to grab a seat for this concert pretty darn quick.