Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ

Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), Laurence Equilbey (Conductor), Ruth Sandhoff (Performer), Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik (Orchestra), Akademie für Musik Berlin (Orchestra), Sandrine Piau (Performer), Robert Getchell (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ruth Sandhoff, Sandrine Piau, Robert Getchell
• Orchestra: Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik, Akademie für Musik Berlin
• Conductor: Laurence Equilbey
• Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
• Audio CD (May 16, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Valois
• ASIN: B000E6G7CU
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,230 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rarely Heard Haydn Choral Masterpiece, June 8, 2006

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J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ (Audio CD)

Haydn wrote four versions of 'The Seven Last Words of Christ.' It started out in 1786 as a purely orchestral piece written on commission from the Canon of Cadiz. It was a set of seven adagios to be played as meditations on the 'seven last words' (always called that, but in actuality the seven last sentences uttered by Christ) as read from the pulpit during Passiontide services. This version became popular and to capitalize on that Haydn then rescored the work and published it for string quartet so it could be more widely played (and sold). He also made a keyboard arrangement of the work. Then, in 1795 in Passau he happened to hear a cantata arrangement by Joseph Friebert, a provincial Kapellmeister who had set the Biblical words for chorus accompanied by the orchestral music. Haydn obtained a copy of that arrangement -- 'I thought I could have handled the vocal parts better myself' -- and took it home to Vienna to make his own arrangement for voices and orchestra. That is what we hear on this CD.

The choral-orchestral version differs from the instrument-only versions in that Haydn wrote orchestral introductions to each of the 'seven words' and added an instrumental movement between words IV and V; this striking 'Introduzione' is scored for winds alone. He also added words -- not from the New Testament but revised from a text by Karl Wilhelm Ramler by Haydn's friend and patron, Baron von Swieten -- to the dramatic final movement, 'Il terremoto' ('The earth moves').

By far the most commonly performed version of the 'Seven Last Words' is that for string quartet. This is probably because it requires fewer forces than any of the other versions besides the not very compelling keyboard version. I am familiar with all the versions except for the original orchestral-only version which I believe has been recorded by Riccardo Muti and the Berlin Philharmonic but which I've never run across. I've come to the belief that this vocal-orchestral version is the most effective musically and dramatically of the three versions I know.

This recorded performance is superior on all counts. Accentus is an extraordinarily fine French chorus that usually sings a cappella works. They are notable for their suavity and impeccable tuning under their founder and leader, Laurence Equibey, who herself studied under the doyen of northern European choral directors, the Swede Eric Ericson. I've never heard anything by the chorus that wasn't absolutely top-drawer. Orchestral support (and it's more than that) is provided by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, an original instruments group with a particularly piquant sound. I'm not generally a big fan of original instrument performances but this group brings something special to the sound of the recording, a slightly peppery yet rounded sound that spices things up a bit.

Add to that the excellent cast of soloists -- Sandrine Piau, Ruth Sandhoff, Robert Getchell and Harry van der Kamp -- who sing in precisely the manner the score calls for: their voices arise from the choral sound, as if they were members of the chorus, not big-time soloists standing in the spotlight. The sound recording emphasizes this approach. Like all the recordings of Accentus I've heard, recorded sound is a big part of the effect, enough so that the Naïve's sound producer, Jean-Pierre Loisil, and engineer, Pierre-Antoine Signoret, deserve special mention.

This is a very special disc, one that I can recommend unreservedly.

Scott Morrison

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Sublimity, October 9, 2007

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Dexter Tay - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ (Audio CD)

Rarely has the emotional power and intensity of Mozart's Requiem been matched or even surpassed - not until Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ.

It is however of no less curiousity that surrounds this masterpiece of Haydn's towering genius; this version with chorus and soloists was by no means the first version of the work, which contrary to convention, began as a purely instrumental piece (and not choral) for liturgical purposes.

The genius of Haydn here is how uniquely different the results turn out to be when the music is put into different mediums and settings and the varying intensity of experience evoked with each setting.

The choral or oratorio version, the first dating from 1795, is probably the most powerful version; Haydn made some changes to the instrumentation and the score and of course adapted the voices, after hearing a lesser composer than himself arranged his original version for the chorus on his way back to Vienna. Also added was a wrenching Introduzione for winds and brass, which features a contrabassoon scored in his works for the first time - somewhat imitating the pipe organ - to great effect.

The unique and somewhat 'archaic' a capella addition before the main verses adds yet another dimension of pathos to the already sublime score.

For a truly unique 'twist' and appreciation of Haydn's skill with manipulating the orchestra to create special textural effects, listen all the way till the end of the work that culminates in an interestingly and dramatically effective scored "Il Terremoto" - strangely reminiscent of "Dies Irae" in Mozart's and Verdi's Requiems, yet with surprises in choral harmonization and orchestration that one would not quite expect.

I have no resevations in recommending the Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik (together with the Accentus chorus and soloists) as the only version of the work, which I think, scores perfection in all aspects. Simply to put it, there's no need to look for the same version of the work performed by another orchestra, chorus or set of soloists.

Listeners already familiar with Mozart's Requiem would take great spiritual solace in this masterstroke of Haydn's late years.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Three 'H's of the 18th Century, September 14, 2009

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Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ (Audio CD)

Forget the "Three B's"for a moment. Consider the "Three H's" of German-Austria music: Johann David Heinichen (1683-1729), Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783), and Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). All three were immensely successful and well-known in their lifetimes, and all three deserved their success. No one could claim that Haydn has been neglected by posterity, but Heinichen and Hasse were cast into archival obscurity until recent decades. Even Haydn, I think, has been under-appreciated. Part of the problem has been that all three have been devalued for who they weren't -- Heinichen for not being Bach, Hasse for not being Gluck, and Haydn for not being Mozart. Oh well, blame the Romantic musicologists! Deep-sixing Heinichen, Hasse, and much of the work of Haydn has been "our" loss as music lovers.

The Three H's had more in common than their initials. They shared the fortune of working for, composing for, patrons of extravagant wealth -- Heinichen and Hasse successively for Augustus the Strong, Haydn for the moneybags Prince Anton Esterházy -- who provided the composers with the most excellent singers and instrumentalists on the market, opulent venues for performances, and properly appreciative audiences. [When Gus the Strong applauded, his courtiers did also.] Working in such courts, all three H's had motives for composing works of grand scale, both secular and sacred All three were commissioned to compose 'major' works for Catholic rites and ceremonies, accessing the richest musical traditions of Counter-Reformation Italy. Heinichen wrote at least 12 masses plus dozens of significant liturgical settings. Hasse wrote only two masses, but four magnificent oratorios and five extended vespers. Haydn wrote 14 masses plus the immense oratorio The Creation. Poor Bach wrote (or assembled) his sublime Mass in B minor seemingly for an audience of one - himself - with no prospect of performance by musicians of the virtuosity Heinichen or Hasse could routinely assume. No wonder Bach was disappointed when his application for the deceased Heinichen's position in Dresden was rejected and the post given to Hasse!

But the only way to meaningfully assess the artistry of any composer is to hear his/her music, and preferably the best of her/his music in the best possible performance. Here are three recordings of "the best by the best":

Johann David Heinichen: Lamentationes, etc.
Reinhard Goebel, with his Musica Antiqua Köln, was a vigorous advocate for the music of Heinichen, and this 2-CD recording from 1996 was one of MAK's finest ever. The "Lamentations of Jeremiah" and four Latin motets comprise one CD, while the second CD features a German-language Passion oratorio that even Bach might have envied for its emotive potency and thoughtful counterpoint.

Sanctus Petrus Et Sancta Maria Magdalena
Conductor Michael Hofstetter does wonders with the orchestra and choir of the Ludwigsberg Castle Festival. This is Hasse's most dramatic and operatic oratorio, less loaded with homiletic recitativos, more symphonic in its aria accompaniments. It helps, of course, that the soloists are among the best also: Vivica Genaux, Terry Wey, Kirtsen Blaise, Heidrun Kordes, and Jacek Laszczkowski.

Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ
Haydn: The Seven Last Words
Haydn first composed this setting of the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross as an instrumental suite for a Passion service in Portugal. He then reconstructed the music as a string quartet - to my ears one of his most profound chamber works. Finally he was prodded into a third version, a setting of the sacred 'words' plus texts probably written by Joseph Freibert of Passau. The three version are brilliantly different, each being richly developed in its genre. The texted version as performed by the 'Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin", with solosits Sandrine Piau, Ruth Sandhoff, Robert Getchell, and Harry van der Kamp is a recording nobody should live or die without hearing. The Fitzwilliam Quartet's recording of the Last Words as pure chamber music has long been my favorite among many performances.