Customer Reviews

Bach: St. John Passion

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I bought this recording (1986) in 1990 when I was an undergrad, living my junior year abroad in Paris. I couldn't really afford the purchase, and ended up going hungry for a few days at the end of that particular month. Well, I survived, I now own five separate recordings of this piece as well as the score, I've seen Peter Schreier conduct while singing the evangelist/tenor solos, and I still treasure this set. This is a strictly "in-house" Gardiner production with all characters and soloists gleaned from the staunch ranks ofhis regulars and the small parts from the Monteverdi choir itself. The orchestral soloists (original instruments, of course) have all gone one to great careers (notably Paul Goodman (viola d'amore) and Lisa and Paul Beznosiuk (flute and viola d'amore, respectively)). Listen to the opening chorus, "Herr, unser Herrscher." The inexorable rhythm brought out by the cellos, the force of the choir mounting like a tide - there is no adequate metaphor nor hyperbole. And before discussing the soloists (my usual "passion") let me first commend the choir further with their consumate musicianship, switching from frenzy-mob to pious Lutherns with nary a measure of rest! Extraordinary work. The soloists! There is no evangelist like Anthony Rolfe-Johnson (with a rarissime slip up in a recitative on the first disk. I won't say where, if you don't notice it so much the better) and Stephen Varcoe is simply the warmest voice Jesus ever had (I will say that Andreas Schmidt is more potent in Gardiner's recording of the Matthaus). Corneilius Hauptman moves his manly baritone around like nobody's business in his last aria "Eilt ihr angefochtnen Seelen" yet his ariosos are melting and lovely. Neil Archer is adequate in the unforgiving, jerky "Ach, mein Sinn" but makes up for it in his majestic arioso "Mein Herz" while Rufus Müller is transcendent in "Erwäge, wie sein blutgefäbter Rücken" (the imagery of this text, matched with this music, is sublime). Michael Chance, once again, gives us what we need for both his arias, "Von den Stricken..." and his "Es ist vollbracht" ("it is finished") sets the standard for the sensitivity, the desolation of this musical moment that no house-sized contralto can match. Ruth Holton acquits herself nicely of the (sort of trite) "Ich folge dich gleichfalls..." And then there is Nancy Argenta. Is it wrong to equate the "argent" of her same with such a perfect, silver, flute-toned soprano? How much lovelier is the sustained F of "Höch-sten" ("most high") without vibrato? Ms. Argenta tells us. For fourteen years and counting.

Bach supposedly wrote 5 passions, two of which survive complete. Of one only the libretto survives, and supposedly pieces of one passion exist in one of Bach's Cantatas. The St. John's Passion is the earliest extant passion of Bach's (composed in the 1720s), and, seeing that the enormous and overwhelming St.Matthew Passion also still exists complete, it has lived in the shadow of its grand predecessor. Not to mention that Bach revised and rummaged through the St.John Passion throughout his life, so there can be no claim to a standard or definitive version (this is not the case with the St. Matthew Passion).

This Passion is great in its own right. If the St.Matthew Passion did not exist, this work could almost take its place. Right from the opening bars it will be evident that great music is on its way, and it doesn't let up throughout the entire piece.

Structurally, the work is almost identical to the St. Matthew Passion, in that it is made up of Recitatives, choruses, and arias. A character named "Evangelist" tells the details of the story in recatitive; arias typically express the feelings of individual characters; and the choruses provide emotional and spiritual reflection on the current scenes. The piece is meant for Christian consumption, and allows the listener to identify with Jesus' suffering and sacrifice through music. Music doesn't typically get more religious than this. However, the music is so amazing that it can be enjoyed even on a non-religious level.

John Eliot Gardiner, The English Baroque Soloists, and the Monteverdi Choir are all in top form here. The performances are impeccable.

The 76-page CD booklet contains a fascinating history of the passion form. It delineates the change in christianity away from a more Augustinian passion emphasizing redemption towards a more Fransiscan direct and immediate sympathy with Christ's suffering. This is the source of the Passion Play, and this tradition evolved into the form heard on Bach's incredible Passions (and the form is still going strong, controversially, at least according to recent box office sales).

Listeners who find the St. Matthew Passion to be an "I felt the earth move" kind of experience will not be disappointed whatsoever with the St. John Passion. Though it's not as grand or as esteemed, it contains music of the same high quality. Now if we could just find those other three Passions...

The choral group that I belong to alternates yearly Good Friday performances of J. S. Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passions, and this year we're singing the former. Although Bach performed his work with male altos and sopranos, we employ female voices in the chorus, and the Monteverdi choir on this recording splits the difference and uses female sopranos and male altos.

The English Baroque Soloists perform the orchestral accompaniment on period instruments, which allow them to balance their sound very beautifully against the chorus, even though there are more instrumentalists than singers. I believe the reason our music director uses his adult choir rather than his boys' choir on Good Friday is that his orchestra (pick-up musicians) with their modern instruments would tend to dominate the young voices.

So it is a pleasure to hear the more authentic Bach on this Archiv Produktion CD, even though there is no substitute for the experience of actually singing this mighty work. John Eliot Gardiner is able to speed his smaller, more flexible choir through the turbo choruses at tempi that must elicit a wistful sigh from my music director. His handling of the chorales sustains the emotional build-up of the Passion setting, and reinforces the listener's understanding as to why hymns were (and are) such an important part of a Protestant service.

The distinguished English tenor, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, sings the Evangelist in a clear, poignant tenor that is well-suited to this difficult role.

All of this recording's soloists sing their arias with intelligence and grace, but for me the final chorus is the emotional culmination of this Passion: "Rest well, rest well, Beloved, sweetly sleeping. That I may cease from further weeping, and let me too, rest well."

There are indeed no words to describe this extraordinary recording. Bach composed it and J.E. Gardiner performs it exquisitely. Never in my life I have been that impressed. "Herr, unser Herrscher", the crowning chorus, made me literally crying. "Von den stricken", "Eilt, ihr angefochtenen sunden", "Zerfliesse, mein herze", everything is almost excrutiatingly beautiful, divine.

And all these sincere recommendations from someone always restrined in giving good reviews. Yet, this work and the way it's performed are, with the risk of repeting myself, beyond words.

This is probably the greatest recording of the St. John Passion I have ever heard, and I have heard quite a few. The strings aren't screechy (as another review claimed); it's the timbre of the period instruments, and Gardiner uses their stridency to great effect, evoking a sense of urgency and consternation that would not be possible with modern stringed instruments. The oboes have a similar quality (and when they are combined with the strings in the first chorale it sounds almost like someone wailing in despair).

I love this recording. The soloists are beyond reproach, and the voicings are perfectly blended almost everywhere so the counterpoint is utterly clear. Most importantly, however, the tremendous depth of this music is not lost despite the intellectual rigor that Gardiner brings to the music.

Much of "historically informed" performance, unfortunately, sounds academic, dry, and purely intellectual; while the performer often has an impressive cerebral understanding of the piece and its historical context, he or she is not able to transcend the intellect and get to the heart of the music. Gardiner can and does with this recording.

ALWAYS THE THINKER WAS J.S.B.

Johann Sebastion Bach (1685-1750), in planning his first Passion, had no model, and the defects of formal structure in the 'St. John Passion' are obvious, though their effect is negligible against the greatness of the music in all other respects. For example, after the sombre and massive opening chorus, the action proceeds rapidly through the capture of Jesus to his appearing before the High Priest. The alto sings of the bondage of sin and the Evangelist has a brief sentence: 'Simon Peter followed Jesus with another desciple.' Next comes a second aria,"I follow You likewise with joyful steps.' Besides the long break in the narration, this second aria seems contradictory because Peter follows Jesus, not joyfully, but with apprehension, A much larger question concerns the repetition of certain choruses with only slight modification set to different texts. When it was thought that the work had been prepared for 1723 (it was actually first performed during Holy Week, 1724), some historians argued that these repetitions were the result of Bach's haste to complete the score, but it is clear that he had some positive intent. Apart from this odd feature, the choruses are wonderfully vivid, far exceeding in dramatic force anything in baroque or classical opera. Bach performed this work several times in his later years; evidently he did not regard it as being inferior to his 'St Matthew Passion'.

Except that he used female sopranos rather then trebles, Gardiner has adopted an 'authentic' approach to this performance of the 'St.John's Passion'. He employs a thirty-piece orchestra of period instruments and a chorus of two dozen; organ continuo mostly NOT sustaining chords in the recitatives(except for some of Jesus' words). Soloists, chorus and orchestra alike insert ornaments at appropriate places in keeping with the dramactic climate of the work.

The cast of soloists is first-rate. Anthony Rolfe Johnson is an appropriately dramatic and mellifluous Evangelist; Stephen Varcoe is a dignified sounding Jesus; Cornelius Hauptmann brings character to the role of Pilate; Michael Chance sings movingly and skillfully in the aria "Est ist Vollbracht"(It is finished!), handling with finesse and vigour the fast middle section of the work; Ruth Holton(accompanied by lovely light-sounding flutes) sings "Ich folge dir gleichfalls" and Nancy Argenta(Partnered by flute and oboe de caccia) sings "Zerfliesses, mein Herze", and the tenor Rufus Muller in a long and taxing aria "Erwage" handles it well, if a bit subdued at times. The chorus is splendid, light as in 'Bist du Nicht Seiner Junger?' or excitingly firm as in the clamour to crucify Jesus and in the strong forceful 'Wir haben ein gesetz'. The orchestral playing is clean and neat with excellent intonation.

Gardiner, in this recording, has abandoned traditonal performance styles. His tempos are so fast that he has lopped more than twenty minutes off the normal duration. So everything is performed at 'break neck' speed, EXCEPT for the exquisitely sung 'Est ist Vollbracht' where Chance held on to his own tempo; in the final chorus the tempo is not rushed. But Gardiner's unorthodox interpretation is exciting and entertaining!

I have several recordings of this Passion, one of which is the DVD of the Choir of King's College with Stephen Cleobury, and I do enjoy listening to this disc more than any other version in my music library. This recording was made in 1986 and I think Gardiner is approaching his rendition in the manner outlined by the National Review,1987, when commenting on the Passion, itself, as they reviewed this recording. "It is a long road from Pope Gregory to Bach - and longer still when we contemplate the St. John Passion, based on the non-synoptic Gospel of John. VEHEMENT AND MILITARY, BACH'S 'JOHN' REMINDS US THAT THE APOSTLES CARRIED SWORDS AND KNEW HOw TO USE THEM. As the musicologist Pau Lang noted, this earlier work of Bach is music drama 'indomitable and irresistible'".

If you are interested in this recording, you might want to know that for about $60 you can get Sacred Masterpieces / Cantatas, which includes this one, as well as many others by Gardiner and these artists (the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists):

- Bach - Christmas Oratorio / Gardiner (2 disks; ~ $34)
- Bach: St. Matthew Passion / Rolfe Johnson, Bonney, von Otter, Chance, Crook; Gardiner (3 disks, currently not available directly through amazon)
- Bach: St. John Passion / Gardiner, The English Baroque Soloists (2 disks; ~ $34)
- Bach - Mass in B minor / Argenta, Nichols, Chance, Stafford, Milner, W. Evans, Gardiner (2 disks; ~ $30)
- Bach: Magnificat, BWV. 243; Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (~ $14)
- Bach: Advent Cantatas (~$16)
- Christmas Cantatas (~16)
- Bach: Cantatas, BWV 82. 83, 125, 200 (~ $18)

And so on. I'm tired of doing that. Even if you already own MOST of these recordings, this is still a bargain, maybe the single best bargain I've ever encountered in classical music.

All beautiful, justly famous works by one of the most devout and talented composers in European history. All either the most widely respected recordings, or among them; all by talented artists dedicated to period performance.

The little booklet that comes with the disks is just a track listing, but as the other reviewer mentioned the lyrics and translations are available online.

J.S. Bach / St. John Passion
John Eliot Gardiner
The Monteverdi Choir / The English Baroque Soloists (Archiv 1986 DDD 2 CD set):

Mr. Gardiner's direction of this piece is wonderful as are the performances given to him. While there is no such thing as a `definitive' performance of this piece, this 2 CD set stands as one that any Bach enthusiast will be proud to own. Five Stars

The St John Passion of Bach seems always to have been slightly in the shadow of the St Matthew. This is not to be wondered at, I suppose, since nearly everything in the whole of music is somewhat overshadowed by that mighty composition. Nevertheless to my own way of thinking the relative position of the St John is not an unfair one, because full though it is of marvellous music its text is less suited to Bach's particular genius. The plainchant narrative of the Passion secundum Joannem is the one I knew as a boy, and if the priest had a good voice it was a marvellous musical experience in its own right. Particularly in its later stages, it consists mainly of narration by the Evangelist punctuated by `turbae' or crowd choruses, plus of course the last words of the Saviour Himself. There is not a lot of scope for reflective digressions, and that is fine in a Catholic Good Friday service, but it is precisely those pietistic interludes that make the St Matthew Passion what it amounts to. Everything Bach does is of the highest quality obviously, but after his thorough, methodical and indeed effective turbae one just has to think of `He trusted in God' from the Messiah to appreciate the difference between him and a contemporary with a genuine innate sense of drama.

As in the cantatas also, the truly wonderful things here are the arias and ariosos, together with those choruses that are not simply congregational chorales. They get rarer as the work proceeds, but it would be quite arguable to maintain that `Es ist vollbracht' `Zerfliesse' and the great `Ruht wohl' chorus just before the concluding chorale are the very finest things in the entire work. They are to Bach's invariable scheme, a scheme that nevertheless seems infinite in its variety, with an instrumental obbligato and indeed a vocal line that itself often seems instrumentally inspired. The difficult vocal lines call for singing of the highest quality, and indeed the instrumental parts themselves can often be demanding. The music may be difficult, but the criteria for judging a performance are very simple - do these performers understand the musical idiom, are they sensitive to the utter greatness of what they are performing, and are they up to it all technically?

This account dates from 1986. It is of the `authentic' school as regards the instruments used, the vocal style and a general tendency towards brisk tempi. By 1986 the authentic movement had relaxed a bit and speed records were thankfully no longer in vogue. `Es ist vollbracht' for one is downright slow here, to its entire benefit. As a rule we could rely on the authentic performers to be technically proficient even if occasionally they seemed a touch mechanical, but in general where Gardiner is handling the overall direction I have usually found that we can rely on him in every respect. That is what I find here. The great opening chorus is full of majesty and solemnity, and the chorus throughout bring out what drama there is to bring out in the turbae. The vocal soloists are admirable in my opinion. The women don't have a whole lot to do, but what they have they do well, and I commend in particular the ethereal account of `Zerfliess' from Nancy Argenta. Whenever the cast includes a male alto I am slightly apprehensive, but this time the countertenor is Michael Chance, whose work I have come to admire on account of the strength of his tone, and all is well here. The other male vocal soloists strike me as admirable too. In particular the two basses -- the Christus of Stephen Varcoe and the Pilate of Cornelius Hauptmann (who also takes the non-character bass solos) are extremely mellifluous and easy on the ear. Instrumentally I have no complaints or reservations either, and it is satisfying to see the instrumental performers named in the liner, in accordance with the admirable custom in Archiv sets.

The recording seems to have been digital from the start, and while I would not call it spectacular I don't require it to be spectacular either. It suits me fine as I find it. The liner booklet is a very good one, with an informative and helpful essay in parted tongues as it were of German English French and Italian, and of course the full sung text. By now I am fully inured with the `authentic' approach, I am gradually collecting Gardiner's great `cantata pilgrimage' from the year 2000, and so to that extent I am on home ground with this performance. At the time of posting this notice I am not yet minded to go back to my revered Munchinger account of the St Matthew Passion, which is in a `semi-authentic' mode, considered quite progressive in its time. How my own taste may have developed since I gave it its last hearing I shall not know until I do, but I hope my tastes have remained catholic enough to enjoy Lutheran music differently approached at different stages of our musical culture. One way or another, I think my collection will benefit from including both schools, and perhaps yours will also.

I doubt there is such a thing as a performance of the great, moving St. John Passion without some virtue. Gardiner's reading is swift, clean, and dramaatic. But the "authentic" overlay means that we also get scrawny strings and a meager chorus, scrappy winds, and rushed tempi. The vocal soloists are hardly stellar, with only Rolfe-Johnson being first-rate. To top it off, the sound is vintage nasty early digital from DG that makes voices and strings screechy in the upper registers.

Those of us who prefer Bach's religious music to actually sound reverent long ago lost the battle. Period style, with its emphasis on perky brightness and external drama, has taken the field. but surely Bach should be performed in the spirit in which it was written, which is fervent devotion and a reaching for the transcendent. If you want a taste of that, you'll have to scrounge around for older recordings. My current favorites are those by Karl Forster on EMI, with the incomparable Fritz Wunderlich as the Evangelist and Fischer-Dieskau as Jesus, along with a quirky but intensely felt reading, last seen on MCA Classics, by Hermann Scherchen, who could always be counted on for musical insights that go far beyond anything a routine time-beater like Gardiner dreams of.