Music : Cellist Mantel at Bach Festival

The Saturday-night entry in the 1990 edition of the venerable Los Angeles Bach Festival took place in the small, Gothic-arched Shatto Chapel at First Congregational Church. There, cellist Gerhard Mantel paid homage to the mighty image of Johann Sebastian Bach while veering considerably away from the topic as the recital went on.

Mantel, professor of cello at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt, is not one of the glamour figures of the cello world; not for him the growling expansive swells of a Rostropovich, or the easy virtuosity of Yo-Yo Ma or rustic bounce of Lynn Harrell. Rather, Mantel produces a steady, even, solid yet sensitive tone from his instrument, riding the safe middle road between dry technical achievement and high drama.

Mantel opened with an unfussy interpretation of J. S. Bach’s viola da gamba Sonata No. 2, although he and his soft-focused pianist Karen Owen seemed to be operating on individual planes. Alone, Mantel pursued the rigors of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6 with a bit more freedom but little dynamic contrast and not much rhythmic indication that the suite is composed of dances.

Beethoven’s Variations on “Ein Madchen oder Weibchen” from Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote” received a warm, graceful if not particularly witty interpretation from Mantel as he weaved around Owen’s stoic piano.

Rachmaninoff’s Sonata was hardly a piece one would expect to turn up at a Bach festival, but the undaunted Mantel responded with his most emotional performance of the night--all things being relative--while maintaining a leash on the composer’s indulgences.

As if to remind us why we were here, Mantel and Owen returned with the Adagio from Bach’s viola da gamba Sonata No. 3 as an encore.