Passion Unseres Herrn Jesu Christi nach dem Evangelisten Matthäus, BWV 244
Carnegie Hall in New York has scheduled a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion for Saturday January 13, 2007, at 7 p.m. Helmuth Rilling is to conduct the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus, James Taylor (tenor--Evangelist), Klaus Haeger (bass--Jesus), Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Ingeborg Danz (mezzo-soprano), and Michael Nagy (bass).
Review of performance--Back Bay Chorale--Cambridge, Massachusetts--April 21, 2000
ST. MATTHEW PASSION (Passion Unseres Herrn Jesu Christi nach dem Evangelisten Matthäus, BWV 244). A passion oratorio. Music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Performed by the Back Bay Chorale. Julian Wachner, Music Director. With Orchestra of Emmanuel Music and PALS Children's Chorus. Soloists: Anne Harley, Soprano; Pamela Dellal, Mezzo-Soprano; William Hite, Tenor; Frank Kelley, Tenor (Evangelist); Stephen Salters, Baritone (Jesus); and Sanford Sylvan, Baritone. At Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 21, 2000.
Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion is an oratorio with recitatives, solo arias, and chorales. The text is based on the account of the passion and death of Jesus in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Interspersed wit the gospel text are chorales and meditative poems. The first performance may have taken place on Good Friday 1727 in Leipzig. The work was performed only four times in Bach's lifetime, and was not performed again until revived by Mendelssohn in the nineteenth century.
The performance began at half past seven and, with an intermission between Parts One and Two, ended about eleven o'clock. Despite its lenghth, the quality of the performance wa so high taht it was almost always interesting, often very moving indeed.
It is hard to imagine that there could be a better Evangelist than Frank Kelley. He delivered his recitatives (as narrator he had no arias) with clear enunciation, beautiful tone, and appropriate expressivity in every instance. It was a delight to hear him. Also superlative were baritone Sanford Sylvan and tenor William Hite, both of whom were quite stirring.
Baritone Stephen Salters, who sang the role of Jesus was quite good, but not quite on the level of the other male soloists. He seemed somewhat nervous at first. Although all the soloists carried the score and glanced at it during their singing, Salters was especially attentive to the printed page, losing a degree of rapport with the audience and making it more difficult for him to seem in character. His voice is pleasant but not beautiful. He demonstrated some variety of emotion, but at times seemed a little more enthusiastic than would be appropriate. Some of his r's seemed more Italian than German in their pronunciation. When not singing, he sometimes sat with this eyes closed. Although the conductor and other male soloists wore white tie and tails, Salters wore a dark high-collared jacket without any shirt visible, vaguely reminiscent of a Nehru jacket, and matching trousers, an outfit that was not becoming to him nor quite dressy enough for the occasion.
The two female soloists were boring in Part One, the soprano sounding slightly strained at times, but they improved considerably in Part Two and became worthy participants in the proceedings.
Ths chorus was quite good musically and delivered the text with impressive clarity. They were fully up to all the dramatic demands of the work.
Julian Wachner was an attentive, masterful conductor. The Orchestra of Emmanuel Music played superbly, and some of its members demonstrated considerable skill in solo passages. The names of individual members of the orchestra and their instruments were not listed in the program.
The audience, which filled almost evey available seat, thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
Bach, St. Matthew Passion, Gardiner, buy.com
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Matthäus-Passion, 3 CD, mit Elly Ameling , Marga Höffgen , Fritz Wunderlich , Peter Pears , Heinz Blankenburg , Hermann Prey , August Messthaler , Tom Krause , Stuttgarter Hymnus-Chorknaben, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Dirigent Karl Münchinger, amazon.de
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