Living It Up at an Unusual Wake for Bach

The typical image of an organization devoted to the furtherance oS. Bach’s music is shrouded in an aura of scholarly tedium: discussions of arcane performance practices, pious record reviews and uncovering quaint biographical minutiae.

But under the leadership of Scott Paulson, oboist and humorist, the San Diego Bach Society has cultivated a more upbeat image. Among the local society’s clever excuses for presenting Bach’s music is the annual “Coffee Cantata” performance given each Thanksgiving weekend and sponsored by local coffeehouses in conjunction with the annual coffee art exhibition opening.

“We want to make it fun,” Paulson said. “After our concerts, people come up to us and tell us how delighted they are to discover that Bach can be so user-friendly.”

Every season the society sponsors a “Battle of the Bachs” concert in which music by various members of the Bach clan vies for the audience’s favor.

Every Nov. 6, the society’s “Rebellious Bach” concert commemorates the day in 1717 when the immortal Bach was imprisoned by his employer, the Duke of Weimar, for insubordination. (Actually, Bach had received a better job offer, and the Duke threw him in prison rather than let his court musician leave town. In the 18th Century, most musicians were little more than servants and treated harshly by their royal or civic employers.)

On July 28 at La Jolla’s Congregational Church, Paulson and his crew will throw a “Bach Wake” to celebrate the death date of the most celebrated Lutheran composer.

“One side of my family is Swedish Lutheran and the other side is Irish, so it was only natural that I would come up with a Bach wake,” Paulson smirked. “But let’s not treat this as a sad occasion. We want to remember the good times.”

For the La Jolla concert, soloists from the Orpheus Ensemble (artists-in-residence with the Bach Society) will perform Cantata No. 106, “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit.” Though the cantata title is usually translated as “God’s Time Is Always Best,” perhaps Paulson is going for an ironic interpretation of the title for his “Bach Wake” program. July 28 may have been a good time from the divine perspective, but it wasn’t a great day for poor old J. S. B.

Mark Doss, who made favorable impressions with San Diego Opera audiences this season as Collatinus in Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” and as Zuniga in Bizet’s “Carmen,” scored a coup last month in the premiere of Anthony Davis’ opera “Tania.” Based on the saga of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst’s 1974 kidnaping by the Symbionese Liberation Army and her subsequent crime spree as an SLA convert, “Tania” was produced in Philadelphia by the American Music Theater Festival.

The Chicago bass sang Cinque, the SLA leader whose cryptic name accompanied the ransom demands issued through the press. Although New York Times music critic Edward Rothstein was not enthusiastic about Davis’ musical achievement, he singled out Doss for his vocal prowess and dramatic strength in the production. Doss returns to San Diego next season to sing Nourabad in the local company’s production of Bizet’s other opera, “Les Pecheurs de Perles.”

Next week’s San Diego Symphony SummerPops program, “Magic, Mice and Mermaids: Favorite Tunes from Animated Film,” will be recorded July 25-26 at Copley Symphony Hall by Proarte Records to produce the orchestra’s third pops compact disc. Leslie Dunner, associate conductor of the Detroit Symphony, will conduct the wildly eclectic program that includes Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” “The Jetsons” theme and vocals from “The Little Mermaid” and “Fievel Goes West.”

Originally Proarte set up a similar-themed recording project that was to have featured the Swingle Singers, the ensemble that made its name singing vocal transcriptions of J. S. Bach with a jazz inflection. But according to Proarte vice president Michael Olsen, who came up with the animated film music theme, the Swingle Singers found its schedule too complex to accommodate a week’s residency in San Diego. The vocals on both the recording and next week’s pops concerts will be handled by Karyn List and Rich Gibbons.

In a phone interview from New York, Olsen said that the San Diego Symphony’s previous two pops recordings had done well.

“In ballpark figures they sold 20,000-25,000 discs, and the second record, the one with music from Hitchcock films conducted by Lala Schifrin, did particularly well.”

Olsen described the market for these records as the same consumers who attend pops concerts.

“They’re adults, probably 35-plus. They like classical music, but they don’t like a lot of it.”

GRACE NOTES: Under the leadership of Myron Tweed, the Westminster Choir of San Diego’s First Presbyterian Church leaves for a 17-day concert tour of Great Britain on July 25. The 75-voice ensemble will sing six concerts in England, Scotland and Wales, including a farewell concert at Edinburgh’s St. Giles Cathedral. . . .

Chorus master Martin Wright will hold auditions for the San Diego Opera Chorus from July 20-22 in Room 204 of Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado. Wright will hear singers in all vocal categories. Auditioners should prepare a short selection of their own choice; an accompanist will be provided. Call the San Diego Opera office (232-7636) to schedule an audition.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

MUSSORGSKY’S ‘PICTURES’

Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” is known in many guises, from its original piano solo--as Mussorgsky wrote it--to the familiar, colorful orchestral transcription by Maurice Ravel. At 8 p.m. Monday on Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ, Marvin Mills will perform yet another incarnation of “Pictures,” an organ transcription by Jean Gillou. Mills, who is music director of Washington’s All Souls Unitarian Church, will also play works by Dupre, J. S. Bach, Petr Eben and William Bolcom.