A musical legacy has been continued

The Zug Chamber Ensemble performed an atmospheric programme of well-known Baroque works in the St. Johannes church in Zug. A report by Jürg Röthlisberger.

The founding initiator, long-time organiser and harpsichordist Werner Weiss passed away In November 2024, but his legacy lives on in the Zuger Kammerensemble (Zug Chamber Ensemble), as could be seen after their two performances in June 2025 and last weekend in Zug. The string-based ensemble continues to play mainly Baroque works and, in the absence of a conductor, the instrumentation lies somewhere between chamber music and a small orchestra. Instead of charging a fixed admission price, the ensemble relied on the generosity of the audience through a voluntary collection after the concert.

The audience has also remained loyal to the ensemble. One would have expected a slightly larger turnout, but this was probably due to the poor accessibility of St. Johannes church due to the Zuger Messe (Zug Autumn Fair), which was taking place nearby at the same time. As a result, the acoustics remained somewhat reverberant, with a slight preference for low frequencies.

Much has already been discussed about the ideal sound of the Baroque. The orchestra favoured a mostly powerful sound with striking entries, but practically no vibrato in the string parts. The often very brisk tempo choices in the allegro movements resulted in clear structures, which were only occasionally marred by inaccuracies in the ensemble playing.

The change in the programme, which was only announced verbally, meant that 17 musicians were on stage for the opening work by Handel. The finale, on the other hand, made do with seven performers. But the three Baroque masters Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), George Frideric Handel (1665-1759) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) clearly had more in common than not – both in terms of form and harmonic structures – so that the change in personnel did not alter the mood of the concert.

The Zug Chamber Ensemble’s ‘Vorfreude’ (Anticipation) concert in the St. Johannes Church in Zug
The Zug Chamber Ensemble gave a convincing performance                          Photos: Alexandra Wey
 

The concert began with Handel's Concerto Grosso, Opus 4, Number 3. The French overture, so characteristic of the composer, sounded concise and intonationally secure. The conclusion with the minuet movement seemed rather unusual. An important role was played by the three wind instruments included in the piece, from the introduction of individual themes to the bassoon solo in the trio section.

The arrangement of Corelli's Opus 6 for strings and continuo, usually considered to be Christmas music, was equally impressive. However, after the abrupt tempo changes appropriate to the work, the concluding Pastorale remained somewhat restless. Special praise is due to the three members of the bass group (Natalia Mizera, cello, Darusz Mizera, double bass, and Laura Mingo Pérez, harpsichord), who, in their tireless efforts throughout the programme, always found the right tonal blend with confident precision.

A violin concerto to conclude
The world-famous B minor Suite, BWV 1067, received a confident and stylistically appropriate interpretation by Zug solo flutist Franziska Kannewischer-Fisch. It was a wise decision to accompany the more virtuosic parts of the solo part with a reduced ensemble. Even without forcing the issue, the main voice always came into its own with a well-rounded tone.

The second Bach work, the Violin Concerto BWV 1041, provided a worthy conclusion. Nathan Karzon gave an atmospheric performance in every respect of the solo violin part, which was extremely difficult for the instrumental technique of the time. The soloist, who grew up in northern Germany but has recently been mainly active in Switzerland, always found precision and beautiful sound in the fluid tempos of the outer movements, which he himself specified.

The performers earned the enthusiastic applause at the end with a repeat of the ‘Badinerie’ from the B minor suite.