Customer Reviews

Haydn: Die Sieben Letzten Worte Unseres Erlosers Am Kreuze

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very good performance of the 'Seven Last Words' from Haydn. Note that it is the vocal version, not the earlier solely instrumental version. Especially the choir and the concert are remarkable. In my personal opinion, the soloists are good as well, but this is sometimes a matter of personal taste. I think this performance is one of the few from a reknowned conductor, although many other versions exist conducted by less reknowned conductors and/or choirs, which results in few competing versions. Recommended!

David Hurwitz's comment that this is "simply the best performance available" either means he hasn't heard many or he is on payroll of this production company. When I sang this music some years back I listened to every recording there was and I've purchased a number of others since that time. The Harnoncourt version, to put it mildly, is unreligious, unsubtle and crude. Only bass Robert Holl distinguishes himself among the soloists and the clear recording does nothing to modify the mushy German of the chorus.

The best version currently before the public is by a bunch of people you never heard of on the Brilliant Classics label conducted by Nicol Matt, a choral specialist of growing reputation. That recording from 2002 is newer than Harnoncourt's, has none of his annoying personal characteristics, is better sung, better produced, has more immediate and more finely detailed sound, and costs less new. For those that demand to spend full price money on a CD, the recent re-release of Rilling's excellent version is avaiable with an extra from Michael Haydn.

Why anyone would hand their hat on this version mystifies me. The one advantage it has is it stays in print while others fade away. Fortunately, the Brilliant Classics version is still available. Get it while you can.

Reading a decidedly lukewarm review of this recording by a reviewer whose opinions I often read and respect sent me back to it for another listen as I had always enjoyed it very much and was rather surprised by his objections.

In the end it is a question of one's taste and response to the scale and overt emotionality of Harnoncourt's interpretation. The reviewer's preferred version by Nicol Matt, available cheaply on Brilliant, is on the face of it similar in that it uses the oratorio version with four soloists, a choir and an orchestra. I enjoy this wonderfully profound music in any of its incarnations, from the solo keyboard arrangement, through string quartet, to full orchestra, to the one we have here and they all enjoyed Haydn's approval.

There is no doubt that Harnoncourt sets out to give us an unabashedly "Romantic" account, leaning heavily on accents and emphasising the suffering behind the text whereas the Stemra disc with Matt conducting is a much more restrained, some would say refined, and redolent of a smaller-scale enterprise with a more intimate acoustic and a somewhat more claustrophobic atmosphere. While Matt's soloists may be "unknowns" they are very good, even if the bass is rather growly compared with Robert Holl's more rotund tones for Harnoncourt and Anthony Rolfe-Johnson's plaintive and intrinsically lovely tenor is clearly a superior instrument to Matt's pleasing but more ordinary singer; his use of the messa di voce is especially moving. While the Nordic Chamber Choir is indeed fine, the Arnold Schoenberg Chamber Choir is a world-class outfit. Both orchestras are admirable.

In a more purist frame of mind I like the Matt version very much but I also respond to Harnoncourt's intensity; he brings out the excoriating physical cruelty of the crucifixion by daring to underline the music as if it were a cry of pain; conversely he finds a serenity in the interludes depicting the paradise which awaits. The size of orchestra also allows him to give proper weight to the "terremoto" conclusion.

In the end, I shall continue to live with and enjoy both versions, even if my instinct leans towards Harnoncourt while my intellect admires the poise and clarity of the Matt recording.

This sensitive performance of Haydn's choral masterpiece "The Seven Last Words" would be the one I'd recommend for the listener who likes his/her religious music sincere and affecting. Harnoncourt milks every phrase for meaning and nuance (which doesn't always happen in the frequently-rushed milieu of historically informed performance (HIP)). For me though it gets a bit tiring to hear everyone caressing every single note like that and being so tender and tentative. I'm more comfortable with Hermann Scherchen's 1962 Vienna recording on Westminster. It's more businesslike, but still has plenty of affecting passages. But then Harnoncourt appears to be more complete, giving us the "Introduzione" before Word No. 5. Not that I felt I was robbed for all these years by not hearing it, but it does work well as a prelude to No. 5.

But whatever the case, please be assured this is A-plus music of its kind. You won't be sorry you got to know it.