{"id":12250,"date":"2016-07-27T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=12250"},"modified":"2016-07-28T09:47:38","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T16:47:38","slug":"german-conductor-alexander-weimann-finds-peace-in-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2016\/07\/27\/german-conductor-alexander-weimann-finds-peace-in-music\/","title":{"rendered":"German conductor Alexander Weimann finds peace in music"},"content":{"rendered":"

German soloist and conductor Alexander Weimann says that Johann Sebastian Bach is the reason why he became a musician, so it makes sense that he\u2019s performing Bach\u2019s Mass in B Minor <\/em>here in town on August 6 (the piece will be performed on period instruments for greater authenticity). Weimann says that Bach is \u201cthe strongest of all composers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of his compositions are great and interesting, and he was a fascinating composer for all of his life,\u201d says Weimann, \u201cbut I find it particularly interesting the pieces he wrote at the end of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weimann\u2014who was born in Munich, Germany and now resides in Vancouver\u2014says he is particularly fascinated in Bach\u2019s late work because, for him, the quality of Bach\u2019s life comes out in the music he composed.<\/p>\n

\"Conductor<\/a>
Conductor Alexander Weimann loves his late-era Bach (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe more popular ones are usually the highest counterpoint, most intelligent kind of pieces that one can imagine,\u201d says Weimann. \u201cThat\u2019s what we usually associate with the late Bach.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Weimann says Mass in B Minor<\/em> is a compilation of pieces used throughout Bach\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first two parts of the mass, he composed, actually, in the mid-1730s. But some of the parts of the end of the mass, he wrote at the very end of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weimann says that as long as a musician is writing material that they know is going to be some of their last, the quality of their lives is apparent in the music they write.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially if a composer knows, \u2018Okay, this is now the end of my career,\u2019 and doesn\u2019t die suddenly, I think you can feel in the texture, in the tones, so to speak, that something unusual is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weimann, who has toured extensively across North America and Europe, says listening to Bach is magical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something happening, and you realize, \u2018Oh, wow; this is someone who goes to the edge of his expressive devices, but also to the edge of the vocabulary, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Weimann says it is that unique vocabulary that Bach\u2019s music creates that really sets him apart from other composers of his time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all its variety and the big spectrum that you find in this piece, that\u2019s what\u2019s really intriguing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And bringing that intrigue to the stage comes down to getting the most out of his players, which Weimann says he does by trusting and believing in them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be a challenging tour for everybody,\u201d he admits. \u201cFor the singers, for the soloists it\u2019s a big thing, because it\u2019s a piece that\u2019s two hours long. We do it quite a few times starting in eastern Canada then turning out west. This is going to be hard and tough on everybody\u2014on every orchestra player, every singer, and on me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weimann says the music makes all the travel and all the stays in hotels worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that makes it easy is that a piece like this is very powerful,\u201d he says. \u201cIt kind of unleashes its own energizing effect once you are in it. It kind of carries you through.\u201d<\/p>\n

J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor
\n<\/em>Saturday, August 6
\n$26-$35, Christ Church Cathedral, 911 Quadra Street
\n8 pm, with a pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm
\nearlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German soloist and conductor Alexander Weimann says that Johann Sebastian Bach is the reason why he became a musician, so it makes sense that he\u2019s performing Bach\u2019s Mass in B Minor here in town on August 6 (the piece will be performed on period instruments for greater authenticity). Weimann says that Bach is \u201cthe strongest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12252,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250\/revisions\/12252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}