Customer Reviews

Bach: St Matthew Passion

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There have been more than forty recordings of Bach's St. Matthew Passion over the years. Not all of them are available, of course, but it is surprising how many one can still find. So, the question arises, what makes this performance worth considering? First, I suppose, because it is from Naxos, is price. But indeed some of the famous and well-loved versions from yesteryear are now also available at a budget price. This version, of course, has the advantage of modern sound. Still, one has to ask why this one? Well, one answer is that Helmut Muller-Bruhl directs a very alert, sensitive, almost swinging version. Second, although the soloists are virtually unknown, there is some exquisite singing here. Particularly notable is the Evangelist of tenor Nico van der Meel, whose supple, clear voice is coupled with impeccable diction and a direct communication of the meaning of the text. If one understands German one does not need to read the libretto to follow along. (There is no libretto included in the booklet but Naxos provides a very nice libretto in German with English translation at www.naxos.com/libretti/stmatthew.htm in Adobe pdf format.) The other soloists are almost his equal. Jesus is sung in a rich, resonant bass-baritone by Raimund Nolte. The other named men in the libretto (Peter/Judas/Pilate/Pontifex) are sung nicely by bass Locky Chung. The 'hit tune' of the work (aside from the glorious repeated chorale) 'Erbarme dich' is sung gracefully by alto Marianne Beate Kielland; I did not particularly like her earlier CD of sacred solo Bach cantatas but here she is just fine and the important violin obbligato is exquisite; the violinist is not identified but presumably it is Orchestra I's concertmaster, Christine Ojstersek.

Best of all are the 'accompanying' forces -- the Dresden Chamber Choir, the Cologne Cathedral Boys' Choir, and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra. There are superb -- there's no other word for it. The orchestra uses modern instruments but hews fairly closely to current notions of baroque performance practice and the sounds they produce are extraordinarily beautiful. This is some of the best choral singing of this work I've ever heard, matched only by Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir in my estimation.

I spent much of Good Friday and Holy Saturday listening to this wonderful performance and my admiration grew with extended listening. I have no hesitation in recommending it, although I will not be getting rid of my earlier recordings that include those conducted by Gardiner, McCreesh, Herreweghe, Karl Richter or the 1938 Mengelberg among others.

Scott Morrison

This set is such a clear standout among Bach recordings that it is nearly mandatory to recommend it. Naxos has been hitting home runs, in a good many recent releases. Or so my ears tell me.

I heartily concur with JSM and other positive reviewers. The chamber orchestra is alert, tuneful, and completely at ease with HIP-informed (but not obtrusive, nor eccentric) performance manners. The Dresden chamber choir is excellent - they have recently been involved in Ricardo Chailly's Christmas Oratorio from Leipzig (another wonderful recording). The cathedral boy's choir is silvery, pointed, and blended, just exactly where their singing should be. It used to be that you only expected this sort of boy choir achievement from, say, King's College, Cambridge; those days are long gone for the better, as many boy choirs rise to effective heart, effective excellence.

From her first outing in Buss und Reu, onwards, alto soloist Marianne Beata Kielland is as good as it gets with HIP manners, and a vocal technique that recalls counter-tenor flexibility while maintaining those much-beloved alto caramel tonal flavors in her bottom range. Before her recitative and aria, the Evangelist (Tenor, Nico van de Meel) has started to narrate the passion story with a pure precious metal voice that is dramatically forged with hints of fire as well as pious reflection and commentary. He seems to understand the text, as well as the music. Nor is the other tenor soloist who sings the tenor arias far behind: Markus Schafer, bravo. And another bravo, too, for the soloist who sings the bass arias, Hanno Muller-Brachmann. He has been showing up fine in several recordings, not least the very winning Naxos release of Haydn's oratorio, The Creation.

Bass-baritone Raimundo Nolte sings the part of Jesus - his voice is fresh and warm, inflected and phrased just so, in keeping with the text that constantly floats in Bach's "halo" of accompanying strings. Soprano soloist Claudia Couwenbergh is simply beautiful. Her first entry in the Blute nur aria is nearly instrumental in its high range clarities, yet as alert to the story as the other soloists.

The smaller solo singers are also fine. Lucky Chung (bass) as Pontius Pilate, Judas, and Peter. Dominique Engler (soprano) as Ancilla II. Yosemeh Adjei (alto) as Testis I. Lothar Blum (tenor) as Testis II. Julian Schulzki (bass) as a high priest. None can be much faulted; all certainly maintain the dramatic and musical flow of the grand whole.

Complaints? Not from me. Except maybe to say that this wonderful recording would have been that much better, if Naxos had issued it in super audio surround, as Naxos did release the Mass in B Minor from similar Cologne origins. As it is, we get state of the art red book PCM sound.

Now the keeper shelves are already pretty full. HIP readings by Herreweghe, Franz Bruggen, Hermann Max with Das Kleine Konzert, and Jos van Veldhoven. A big, old-fashioned reading by Klemperer. Middle-sized readings by Rilling, Somary, Gonnenwein, and even an early stereo set led by trail-blazer Mogens Woldike.

Detractors will perhaps describe this Cologne set as too even-handed, as too much of the same very good thing. It is true that Muller-Bruhl adopts mainstream tempos that hardly anybody could accuse of being eccentric or extreme. He also keeps the story and the music moving forward, throughout; so I guess we could accuse him of faulting the really meditative dimensions of Lutheran piety in Bach's times. But the recurring chorale that helps tie the whole picture together is always just right to my ears.

Interested people should give this set a chance to beguile them. It is a keeper option, and comparisons aside, deserves to be heard on its own excellent musical terms.