Finding Balance: Music, Nature, and the Ground Bass

As a musician, I find myself spending far too much of my time indoors. Harpsichords don’t behave well outdoors, and while I love the idea of perusing my scores in the park, gusts of wind often prove too distracting for me.

But these are feeble excuses. The summer is when I aim to redress this imbalance in my life, and with my extended family in toasty Puglia (on the heel of Italy’s ‘‘boot’’), I have recently enjoyed frequent swims in the Ionian Sea, picking figs on forest walks – and even a spot of yoga in the local piazza. I now feel less like a battery chicken and more in touch with my surroundings. My vitamin D levels have been restored!

So, how can I continue in this vein when we ‘‘return to school’’ this autumn? Can I embrace more of Portland’s beautiful outdoors on my trips over from London? And can I do so without compromising the daily delight of study and practice?

In short, hopefully. As our summer festival season winds down and we return indoors for cultural events, I want to maintain this rediscovered equilibrium with nature. There’s no point pretending that I will be running up Mount Hood on my days off, but it’s the little things that count: extending my walks to rehearsal, centering my breathing, listening to birdsong. In doing so, I hope to arrive back indoors with renewed vigor.

Musically, our imminent season reflects the inexorable cycles of nature. “Grounds for Optimism” celebrates how a repeated bass line forms the backbone to so many Baroque movements, be it a chaconne, ground, ostinato, passacaglia, riff, or other variant. It underpins our programs, from Pachelbel’s Canon and Bach’s Goldberg Variations to a grand Passacaille by Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Is the ground bass not restrictive for a full season? Its strict framework can limit varied phrase lengths and changes of harmony. Why not explore other, freer forms?

The very restrictions of the repeated ground bass provide that creative tension between freedom and discipline. Being rooted to the bass line, melodic soloists have a magnetic pole that gives them the space to discover afresh the improvisational quality that lies at the heart of so much Baroque music. And, rest assured, you won’t be listening solely to ground basses throughout our season! Rather, their stabilizing presence will act in counterpoint to other gems, be it a boisterous bourrée by Handel, a soulful slow movement by C. P. E. Bach, or a lovelorn aria by Alessandro Scarlatti. Perhaps the ground bass can even act as a metaphor for stability amidst life’s challenges.

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