(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.)  – Works by or associated with the illustrious Bach family will be featured in “J.S. Bach and Sons — Legitimate and Otherwise,” at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, March 19, at 6pm, in a chamber concert in the Close Encounters With Music series. The program includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach’s uncle Heinrich and his sons Johann Christoph Friedrich, Wilhelm Friedemann, and Carl Philipp Emanuel, his “illegitimate” son P.D.Q. Bach aka Peter Schickele, and the master himself, in a rendition of “Brandenburg Concerto” No. 3 as performed by ACRONYM, a self-described 12-piece Baroque “string band.”

 

The program includes P.D.Q. Bach’s Trumpet Involuntary from “Iphigenia in Brooklyn” for Strings, Continuo and Solo Wine Bottle. This selection replaces the concerto for “Four Handed Viola” previously announced. As with all PDQ works (familiar and warm favorites include “Shleptet,” Concerto for Horn and Hardart, “Erotica” Variations, Fanfare for the Common Cold) Trumpet Involuntary combines musicological scholarship, the conventions of Baroque, and the antics of slapstick comedy.

 

Internationally renowned cellist and CEWM artistic director Yehuda Hanani will perform early 20^th  century composer Henri Casadesus’ Concerto in C Minor, originally ascribed to Johann Christian Bach before scholars confirmed that it was in fact only written in his style — the other “illegitimate” element on the program. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C Minor will come alive with solo performances by violinist Edwin Huizinga and oboist James Austin Smith. ACRONYM, the 12-piece Baroque String Band, will conclude with the timeless glory of the patriarch’s “Brandenburg Concerto” No. 3.

 

ACRONYM is distinguished by an ambitious mission to unearth and revive forgotten masterpieces of the Baroque era, often unheard since the 17th century. CEWM’s Yehuda Hanani says: “ACRONYM brings a youthful exuberance to ancient music, making it sound like it was written yesterday.” The ensemble’s director Kivie Cahn-Lipman is founding cellist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with which he performs regularly to international critical acclaim. He is also a gambist and lironist.  Award-winning harpsichordist Gabriel Schuford joins the ensemble for historically informed performances infused with joyful insouciance.