THE START OF A BACH TRADITION

A former touring musical comedy singer, Marilyn Savage in recent years has put most of her energies into the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

“I came to Bach for love of the music, but singing a lot of Bach has also been like vocal rehabilitation for me, after years of singing musicals,” Savage said.

One of the founders of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Bach Soloists, which begins a fourth season tonight in Ambassador Auditorium, Savage now works toward keeping the 13-member ensemble afloat and working.

“Except for the Washington (D.C.) Bach Consort--which doesn’t tour--we are the only Bach aria group extant in this country,” the mezzo-soprano said. “There are several reasons for that. First, the cantata as a form can seem archaic--hearing a whole one doesn’t have a lot of appeal. So, programming is the first problem. And the fact that Bach wrote many of his cantatas in minor keys certainly doesn’t help.”

Making programs for the ensemble--four solo singers and eight instrumentalists from the Chamber Orchestra, plus one extra instrumentalist in every program--is difficult, Savage said.

In coordinating programs and rehearsals, she has had from the beginning the musical and moral support of both outgoing LACO music director Gerard Schwarz and Morton Jackson, a longtime member of the orchestra’s board and Savage’s husband.

“The problem is variety, pacing and using the players in different combinations,” she said. “What you have here is a recital given by 13 people, each one of them anxious to perform. Putting together one of our programs is like solving Rubik’s cube.

“Besides being well paced, the program has to be entertaining. And theatrical. You know, one of the original meanings of the verb, to entertain, is to harbor, to cherish. That’s what we have to do.” Not all cantata movements are appropriate to the programs Savage and her colleagues put together, she said.

“But what a thrill when we find some nugget or other that we didn’t know before, and can use on our programs.”

By now, four years after the ensemble’s first (private) concert, Savage said, the performers are beginning to repeat some repertory, as they do tonight.

“Gerry (Schwarz) is listed as our music adviser. He actually rehearsed and prepared most of the music on our program, for earlier performances. We use all his markings on our scores.”

Of the 13 Bach Soloists performing this week (tonight in Pasadena, Thursday at Embassy Auditorium downtown and Friday at Claremont) three are new to the smaller ensemble as of this season: violist Roland Kato, cellist Michael Mathews and bassist David Young, all veteran members of L.A. Chamber Orchestra. Will the Bach Soloists ever grow in size?

“Oh, no,” Savage said. “This size is ideal. For our 13th member, we sometimes bring in a hornist, or another solo wind, for one concert. But we’ll never get bigger.”