NICK JUMPS IN FOR GRAUPNER CANTATA WITH PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE
GRAUPNER’S “REINER GEIST” WITH PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE & RUBEN VALENZUELA
Nick performs with Ruben Valenzela and Philharmonia Baroque for Stanford LIVE at Bing Concert Hall on December 11, 2024. Photo: Kristen Loken
“When Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale asked conductor and harpsichordist Ruben Valenzuela for a Bach Christmas program, the ensemble knew what it would get.
The founder and artistic director of Bach Collegium San Diego…turned to two of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Advent cantatas. For an unfamiliar twist, Valenzuela also added another by the composer’s 18th century contemporary, Christoph Graupner.
The resulting concert, the first performance of which took place on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at Bing Concert Hall on the Stanford University campus, was filled with gorgeous, if sober, musical delights. The Orchestra and Chorale were in top form, and the featured soloists, tenor Nicholas Phan and soprano Jennifer Paulino, together filling in for the originally scheduled Sherezade Panthaki, were magnetic…
…’Reiner Geist, lass doch mein Herz,’ GWV 1138/11 (Pure spirit, let my heart) is not for the Advent season, but it’s a beautiful work that shows more than a touch of Italian opera influence. Much less celebratory than the surrounding Bach cantatas, the piece in this performance owed much to Phan, who was a phenomenal soloist. His legato was unshakeable, even in the face of a string of German consonants, like the line “Ach, zieh mich aus dem Weltgetümmel” (Oh, take me out of the worldly turmoil)…”