From the very first
chord one feels that this recording
is something special. The sound is crisp,
well-balanced and detailed without being
over-analytical. There is space around
the instruments and – later – the chorus
but at the same time takes account of
the cathedral acoustic that would otherwise
smothers out details and smudge words.
The soloists are also well in the picture,
never swamped by orchestra and chorus.
To my ears engineer Ingeborg Kiepert
and producer Wolfgang Mitlehner have
done a superb job.
The orchestra play
period instruments and is not very big:
twelve violins, four violas, three cellos
and two double basses plus the prescribed
wind instruments and timpani. For the
short recitatives a fortepiano is used,
which also lends authenticity to the
performance. It is not a small-scale
performance though. Conductor Andreas
Spering wrings the most from the fortes
while at the same time preserving clarity.
He is also masterful when it comes to
hushing the orchestra to chamber music
dimensions. All this is evident in the
remarkable prelude, representing chaos.
After more than 200 years this music
still sounds surprisingly modern; even
more so when played on period instruments.
Spering sustains the tension throughout
the 6½ minutes and continues to do so
until the end of the oratorio. In many
places one has a feeling that it is
a very swift performance but comparing
it with a big-band version such as Levine’s
(DG) the differences are small, whether
one looks at the individual numbers
or the overall timing. Levine needs
a little more than six minutes extra
to reach Amen! That some of the
arias seem to be much faster is more
a question of the more springy rhythms
and of more "air" between
notes. I can imagine that Spering, considering
the somewhat naive libretto, sees the
whole work from a child’s perspective.
The child is listening to this amazing
story for the first time and with mouth
wide open enthralled by the fairy-tale
descriptions of the proceedings, shivering
when the storms rage and bluster and
crouching when the lightning cleaves
the air and the timpani lets the fearful
thunder roll on every side (CD 1 track
4). Spering makes the most of all this
word-painting without going to extremes,
and the child is of course eager to
get to know how it all ends.
The VokalEnsemble Köln
has made for itself quite a name during
the last few years (it was founded as
recently as 1997) and, just like the
orchestra, they are constantly on their
toes. Their first entrance, after Gabriel’s
Im Anfange schuf Gott Himmel und
Erde, (CD1 track 2) is wonderfully
hushed and then they explode – together
with the orchestra – on the words Und
es war LICHT! The lively chorus
following Uriel’s first aria (CD1 track
3) is sung with great precision and
the big choruses concluding each part
of the oratorio are magnificently done.
There is such vitality. This is indeed
choral singing on the highest possible
level.
And the soloists? Well,
the most well-known of them, bass baritone
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, who carries
the heaviest burden, does wonderful
things. He is not ideally steady of
voice in all places and this is noticeable
at his first entrance on Im Anfange
schuf Gott ... (CD1 track 2). However
he treats the text with the care for
meaning of a Lieder-singer (and he is
indeed a Lieder-singer – his volume
in Naxos’s Schubert cycle is impressive
and indeed he was a pupil of Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau. Here he delivers the
first lines at a ravishing pianissimo.
He then shows his dramatic capacity
in the recitative Und Gott machte
das Firmament, where the line Da
tobten brausend heftige Stürme
is sung in great operatic style. All
through the performance he admirably
adjusts his voice colour to the text.
His voice may not be as sonorous and
beautiful as some – Heinz Rehfuss on
my old Concert Hall recording from 1960
and Kurt Moll on the aforementioned
Levine version have more magnificent
instruments. However in his own right
he is well suited to the part.
Tenor Jan Kobow has
a light, warm, agile and beautiful voice
that seems the ideal match for Uriel’s
music. He also sings with great attention
to dynamics. His first aria Nun schwanden
vor dem heiligen Strahle (CD1 track
3) is a good example. And in part II,
the recitative Und Gott schuf den
Menschen (CD2 track 4) is sensitively
done, as is the following aria Mit
würd’ und Hoheit angetan, even
if one could have wished for just a
notch more power.
The young South Korean
soprano Sunhae Im is even better. She
too has a light voice, glittering and
with an elegant trill. There is something
of Emma Kirkby’s purity about her singing
even if she has a more prominent vibrato,
very beautiful and personal and used
with discrimination. Sometimes she sings
with an absolutely straight Kirkby-ish
tone and then gradually lets the vibrato
protrude. Tracks 5, 9 and especially
16 (all on CD1) demonstrate this lovely
singing. Auf starkem Fittiche
(tr 16) is indeed masterly.
The booklet has some
paragraphs about Haydn and a good synopsis
by Keith Anderson. The sung texts can
be downloaded as PDF files from naxos.com,
which can be a little inconvenient for
some listeners, but don’t let that deter
you from acquiring this wonderful set:
premium quality at super-budged price!
Strongly recommended.
Göran Forsling
VokalEnsemble Köln/Max Ciolek; Capella
Augustina/Andreas Spering 
