Sonata Program Shows Bach’s Evolution

Bach is the cornerstone of Western classical music. But Bach did not emerge fully formed, nor did he stay the same over his long career, as flutist James Galway and friends demonstrated in their fine six-part Bach Trio Sonata program Thursday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Forget about the canonical identifying numbers. The Trio Sonata in G for Flute, Violin and Basso Continuo, BWV 1038, may be one digit away from the Trio Sonata in G for Two Flutes and Basso Continuo, BWV 1039. But your ear, heart and mind told you the first is youthful, journeyman’s work, while the second is distinctively “Bachian”--timeless, amazingly inventive and percolating with spirit and energy.

The differences had nothing to do with the splendid playing of Galway, Baroque violinist Monica Huggett, viola da gambist Sarah Cunningham, harpsichordist Phillip Moll or second flutist Jeanne Galway, James’ wife. The differences were in the music.

Similarly, the Sonata in E minor for Violin and Basso Continuo, BWV 1023, showed a curious young Bach experimenting with Italianate forms and melodies he would later transcend. The Trio Sonata in C minor for Flute, Violin and Basso Continuo, drawn from “The Musical Offering,” BWV 1079, however, embodies the complex, somber musings of his later life. His eyesight is failing, his spiritual certainty is less dogmatic and simple. It is not a comforting work.

Additionally, in BWV 1028 (Sonata in D for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord) and BWV 1035 (Sonata in E for Flute and Basso Continuo), Cunningham and Galway, respectively, each had prominent solo opportunities, which they exploited with strength and character. When given the chance, Cunningham and Huggett, also a strong soloist, took a few moments to talk engagingly to the audience about the differences between their Baroque and modern instruments.

For the single encore, the “whole gang,” as Galway put it, played the final movement of a Quartet in D minor from Telemann’s “Tafelmusik” collection.