SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Bach, Christmas Oratorio: Soloists, The St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra, Hye Jung Lee (Soprano). Julia Szabo (Mezzo-Soprano), Andrew Bidlack (Tenor), Paul Houghtaling (Bass-Baritone), Patrick Gardner (conductor), Carnegie Hall, New York City, 23.12.2010 (SSM)


Of all the major choral works of Bach the Christmas Oratorio is perhaps the least well-known. It lacks the architecture and the solidly constructed story line of the St. Matthew Passion, as well as that work’s unified sensibility, the encompassing pathos that envelops the listener from beginning to end. It could not be compared to the Mass in B minor, another monumental piece that builds on itself, starting as a church but ending up as a cathedral. Even in performances with a small orchestra and one voice per part, the Mass in B minor sounds big. Not that there are no big choruses in the Christmas Oratorio. All six sections begin with one, rousing and joyous in all but the second and fourth.

Although the Oratorio contains beautiful music, Bach took much of it from earlier works, and it has the feeling of being patched together. In fact, the Oratorio was not performed in its entirety in Bach’s lifetime and the named sections are really individual cantatas performed on the holy days before and after Christmas. Each retains the classic Bach cantata format, beginning with a sinfonia and/or chorus, continuing with alternating recitatives and arias and ending with a traditional Lutheran Chorale. The cantata form used in this oratorio is less rigid than most—it intersperses choral numbers with vocal solos—but the overall structure is still that of a Bach cantata.

Bach made some attempt to unify the sections within the cantatas by reprising the opening chorus at the cantata’s end (section 5) or including references to the opening chorus in the ending chorale (section 2). He also created a common timbre between sections: one and three use a similar instrumentation, adding trumpets and tympani to the oboes and flutes. At first hearing, the opening of the third section sounds like a repeat of the opening of the first. The same appears true of the pastoral-like openings of the second and fourth sections.

This performance by the St. Cecilia Chorus, an amateur group that has existed since 1906, was led by guest conductor Patrick Gardner. David Randolph, the group’s director and conductor for the past 45 years, died this year and Mr. Gardner, as guest conductor, confidently handled both the chorus and the orchestra. Like his predecessor, Mr. Gardner made no attempt to follow Baroque performing practice. String players used full vibrato, and although there were some attempts to speed up tempi (for example in the first section’s aria Bereite dich, Zion, mit zärtlichen Trieben), most arias were on the slow side. A few were even lethargic, like the closing chorale of the first section, Ach mein herzliebes Jesulein!

To be fair, one has to judge the success of a performance on its ability to accomplish what it does within the context of the specific style the conductor has tried to follow. Mr. Gardner was not attempting to emulate the early music techniques of his homophonic fellow conductor, John Gardiner. He performed the work with a chorus more than twice the size of the orchestra, and tended to stretch out final notes. At times the chorus overpowered the orchestra, and other times it sounded muffled. I found myself filling in the instrumental accompaniments, which were drowned out by the chorus, in my mind. As often happens in performances, particularly those that are only done once, it takes some time for the musicians and singers to warm up, and the second half of a concert "clicks" in a way that makes the listener feel that finally they got it right. I'm not sure why this happens but you know when it does: the instrumentalists and the soloists/chorus sound as one. I felt this point was reached at the wonderfully jaunty, bouncing, infectious opening chorus of the fifth cantata: Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen. From here on I was captivated with the performers' enthusiasm and the music's snappy rhythms.

The soloists were uniformly good. Hye Jung Lee, indeed, was superb. Her bell-like voice matched the sound of the flute in its ability to be heard clearly over the orchestral accompaniment. She also was the only soloist to sing in a Baroque style with minimum vibrato.

After the intermission, it was surprising that all the members of the group returned on stage except the mezzo Julia Szabo. Of course one wondered what happened to her since several numbers required her voice. Near the beginning of the aria Flößt, mein Heiland, flößt dein Namen in the fourth section, someone began shouting back at the soprano, Ms. Lee. It took a second to realize that Ms. Szabo was echoing the answers "Ja" and "Nein" to questions chanted by Ms. Lee. Cleverly, Bach took this aria from his secular cantata BWV 213: Herkules auf dem Scheidewege, which has as part of its libretto a conversation between Hercules and the nymph Echo. This was done quite effectively, and congratulations to the audience for restraint in not turning their heads around.

With its long history under the leadership of David Randolph and its democratic method of making decisions (including who would best serve as conductor), I hope this group chooses a new conductor as charismatic, dynamic and long-lived as Mr. Randolph, whose last conducting appearance with this group was at the age of 95.

Stan Metzger