Customer Reviews

Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthaus Passion

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THE BEST OF THE BEST!

Bach's St.Matthew Passion was composed for the Good Friday service at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig in 1727.

Later Bach carried out some revision work and also inserted other pieces so that over a period of time it became by some measure the largest and grandest of his works. He used a double chorus, plus a 3rd soprano group for the opening and closing of Part One, two orchestras(split so that they always either accompany the first or second chorus), four soloists who carry specific parts and a number of other singers who take other roles. The text is taken from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 26 & 27, and from the traditional Lutheran Hymns(the chorales). The part of the Evangelist is traditionally sung by a tenor and the part of Jesus by a bass.

This DVD recording fulfills all of the requirements for this Passion, the King's College Choir is divided into two separate groups and the Jesus College Choir is the third soprano group. The Evangelist is sung by Rogers Covey-Crump, who presents a clear rendition, if not impassioned delivery, while Michael George is quite impressive with his richly-textured voice as Jesus. The four soloists are outstanding in every way with precise diction, impassioned deliveries and all quite comfortable singing the music of Bach.

Some highpoints are Michael Chance's moving rendition of 'Erbarme dich' (Have mercy), probably one of the most impressive alto arias in the Passion. Chance delivers this with such emotional fervency that one feels as if he/she was present at the Crucifixion; absolutely stunning! Emma Kirkby, like Chance. is able to wrap herself around a Bach phrase like she was born to do so; her voice has a clarity and pathos that suits this music very well indeed.

The Brandenburg Consort is as usual very skillful and correct and the choirs sing with an elegant emotion that goes well with Bach's wonderful Passion. The DVD is well done both in audio production and visual clarity.

The sound and images of this product are excellent, but I am disappointed that there are no subtitles or English libretto included. I had to go to a Minnesota public radio website to get English and German lyrics. Fine but not really what I had in mind.

It's a fine recording: excellent soloists, choirs, orchestra (period instruments), conductor. The problem is with Brilliant, which, I assume, bought the rights to this and manufactured the DVD on-the-cheap. The menu consists only of two buttons, Play All and Chapter Selection. On my equipment it is impossible to see any highlighting or marker on the chapter selection screen when using the down key on my remote. The only way I could pick up where I left off, or find a particular number, was to use the double arrow skip button and flip through multiple chapters until arriving at my selection.

Furthermore, there are no numbers on the chapter selection screen. To make things still more difficult, the accompanying German (no translation) libretto and the separate printed timing list of selections all use traditional Bach numbering, but the selections screen begins again with 1 at part 2 of the Passion. As mentioned by another reviewer, no surtitles; as I said before, only two choices on the menu screen, Play All and Chapter Selection.

If this is your preferred performance, the frustrating manipulation may be worth your trouble. If I'd realized it was Brilliant who produced this, I might not have bought it. However, I paid only .50 (fifty cents!) plus postage for my used copy, through an amazon affiliate; I see that prices for the remaining copies have gone way up since my purchase (just two weeks ago).

The King's College Choir DVD of Bach's St. Matthew Passion does not have subtitles, nor does the insert provide a translation.