Agave takes on the Bach family

Sebastian was present, of course, along with two of his less well-known composing sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Johann Christoph Friedrich. The other three were older distant cousins of Sebastian’s, Johann Michael, Johann Ludwig and Johann Bernhard. Michael’s daughter Maria Barbara became Sebastian’s first wife. Michael was thus Friedemann’s grandfather. Sebastian also knew his other cousins. He performed and helped preserve their music.

Agave’s precise and lyric performances took these often-remote composers and made them dance. Agave’s six musicians played the frequently dance-inspired music fast and lively with strong rhythms. The robust sound and occasional wandering out of tune of period-appropriate gut strings only added a little spice to a generally invigorating evening. What was most remarkable is that each of the six composers had a distinctive sound and musical style.

The recognizably fussy and earnest tone of Sebastian’s music was clearly on display in the Sinfonia, an instrumental movement from his Cantata No. 49. This features a prominent solo part for organ, played here on harpsichord by Henry Lebedinsky.

A more startling example of Sebastian’s music came with the famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, written for organ but here arranged for the whole ensemble. This gave a new view of this familiar music. The arrangement was not in traditional continuo style, for the continuo instruments — Lebedinsky, William Skeen on cello and Kevin Cooper on guitar (also playing bass lute) — each received prominent solos that they would not have had while lurking quietly in the bass line. The arrangement was particularly successful in the fugue section of the work, bringing out the individual lines of the various parts.

Of the three cousins’ music, Bernhard’s Suite in G Minor sounded the most like Sebastian’s. Indeed, this work may have inspired Sebastian’s own orchestral suites. Sharing his earnestness, it differs from his work by displaying a crisp steely sound quality that reminded me of George Philipp Telemann.

Ludwig’s cheerful Suite in G Major was the most outgoing of the cousins’ music. Full of dance movements like a minuet and a gavotte, sounding dancelike even in a slower air, it had something of the heartiness of George Frederick Handel.

Michael’s Sonata for Four (four lines, the fourth being a three-part continuo) was quite different. Even when it broke into fast music, this mostly slow work was richly melancholy in a manner resembling the English composer Henry Purcell, who was Michael’s late 17th century contemporary. Here Aaron Westman, who played a prominent lead violin part in most of the evening’s works, was accompanied by rich supplemental harmonies from his string colleagues, Anna Washburn on violin and Katherine Kyme on viola. All used Baroque-style bows.

Sebastian’s sons crossed the line from the Baroque era into the later, calmer and statelier, Classical period. Friedemann, the eldest son, had difficulty negotiating the transition, judging from his Sinfonia in F Major. This work’s combination of Baroque and Classical features made it querulous, running off in different directions without complete coherence.

Friedrich, one of the youngest sons, wrote a Trio in A Major which was the most appealing of all the evening’s compositions. This was the only work on the program without all six musicians performing. Lebedinsky on harpsichord, representing Friedrich’s intended fortepiano, joined Washburn on violin and Kyme on viola. This chatty music was full of unison motions and call-and-response phrases for strings. There was also a recurring harmonic sequence reminiscent of the famous Canon of Johann Pachelbel — who had been the teacher of Sebastian’s older brother and first instructor, so it all comes around.

This was a rewarding and educational concert. The Early Music Society’s next Peninsula event will be on Friday, April 8, in the same venue. Tabea Debus on recorder and Paul Morton on lute will explore some of the catchiest tunes of Renaissance and Baroque music.