Bach Charlotte Proves It Can Handel A Change
January 30, 2026
By Lawrence Toppman
Is it sacrilege to admit I find G.F. Handel more enjoyable than J.S. Bach, especially when I’m blogging about an organization named Bach Charlotte? Not more profound, more creative, more influential or more important to music history. Just more fun.
My mind whirls when I hear Bach’s music. Sometimes my spirit is moved. But when I hear Handel, my toes tap, my head bobs, my face splits in a wide grin. Case in point: Opening night of Bach Charlotte’s first-ever WinterFest, an all-Handel evening that showed the group has not only a new name – it used to be Bach Akademie Charlotte – but a broader outlook.
Thursday night’s concert, the second of five scheduled through Sunday, gave us two large pieces by Johannes Brahms, a tiny bit of JSB and a Bach chaconne rearranged by Robert Schumann for violin and piano. The philosophical expansion continues Friday, where the longest piece is a flute concerto by CPE Bach (JSB’s eldest son), and Saturday, where Vivaldi’s Gloria in D holds the prime spot. Sunday’s organ recital encompasses seven composers or arrangers, one of them the elder Bach.
You could make a case that all these composers emulated Bach, stole from him, learned from him, borrowed forms he had created or developed, were neighbors geographically or musically, or simply paid him homage at some point. (Who didn’t?) But Bach Charlotte has gradually broken free of its original all-JSB format to bring us some masterpieces and likeable minor works we probably wouldn’t hear elsewhere in town, performed by top-class musicians. That suits me.
Wednesday’s concert at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church on Queens Road stayed mostly on Handel’s lighter side. Sopranos Arwen Myers and MaryRuth Miller gave us two duets about love’s untrustworthiness and brevity, in which we immediately recognized old melodic friends that later became “Messiah” choruses: “For unto us, a child is born,” “All we like sheep” and others. The two sang with remarkable agility and scaled their voices perfectly to the intimate acoustics of the church. I was nonplussed not to find translations in the elegant program as before, until I saw them projected on a screen alongside the stage.
Four string players and keyboardist Ian Watson, playing the organ Bach Charlotte recently purchased, danced through two trio sonatas from Handel’s Op. 5. (I realize Bach regularly used dance forms in partitas and suites, but these sonatas made me want to hop out of my pew into the aisle.) Then Myers showed her emotional range in the cantata “Armida abbandonata,” bewailing her lover’s absence, cursing him, feeling regret and finally being torn between her love and a desire to see it end.
The hero of Thursday’s performance, also at St. Mark’s, was pianist Esther Jeehae Ahn, who played in all four pieces and capped the night with a virtuosic rendition of Brahms’ finger-busting “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel.”
She opened with a snippet from JSB’s “The Art of Fugue,” then joined cellist Guy Fishman for an impassioned reading of Brahms’ First Cello Sonata. The connection? As Roseen Giles’ erudite notes point out, the primary theme of Brahms’ first movement and the final fugal section borrow from “The Art of Fugue.” For me, it was enough to hear Fishman’s big cello tone matched with the sound of a modern Steinway piano in an intense reading.
The oddity of the night, Schumann’s revision of the stunning Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2, fell into the category of pieces I have wondered about and never need to hear again. The rudimentary piano part, mostly ponderous harmonies set against the driving force of the violin, weakened the piece. The solo piano adaptation Ahn played last year worked well, partly because the piano parallels the solo violin more closely, but this duet merely made me wonder why Schumann assigned himself such a dull keyboard part.
Brahms, on the other hand, gave himself a wide dynamic range and plenty of fireworks in his variations, based on a tune from Handel’s Harpsichord Suite No. 1. Ahn could be lyrical when the music asked her to be but seemed happiest in the powerhouse portions, including the final fugue. Brahms was 28 when he wrote this 26-minute solo, and you can see the young virtuoso, full of beans and pride in his piano prowess, emptying out his bag of tricks.
Bach festival executive director Garrett Murphy, who turned an eye toward the snowy weekend weather forecast, promised Thursday night that the Saturday and Sunday concerts would go on. I hope so, as I’d like to hear that great “Gloria.”
But in case they don’t, here’s something to look forward to: The main festival, which will run May 28 through June 6, will include another all-Handel evening – orchestral works, vocal and choral selections – a program dedicated to the Italian Baroque, which influenced Handel so strongly, and a concluding performance of “Theodora,” Handel’s only dramatic oratorio in English based on a Christian subject. Maybe this organization should be renamed Bachandel Charlotte, after all.
If You’re Going
Bach Charlotte’s “WinterFest” continues through Sunday. The spring schedule hasn’t been posted online yet, though it’s listed in the back of the Winterfest concert programs.
