Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
‘Actus tragicus’, Gottes Zeit ist der allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 [19:08]
Easter Oratorio, Kommt, eilet und laufet, BWV 249 [41:07]
Hannah Morrison (soprano); Meg Bragle (alto); Nichola Mulroy (tenor); Peter Harvey (bass)
The Monteverdi Choir/The English Baroque Soloists/Sir John Eliot Gardiner
rec. 24-26 June 2013, Cadogan Hall, London
German texts, English and French translations included
SOLI DEO GLORIA SDG719 [60:15]
I must admit that I’m not a great devotee of one-to-a-part
performances of Bach’s sacred music. I respect the arguments
behind this approach and I have a number of recordings in my collection,
many of which I find very good in their own terms though, for
all the skills of the performers, I don’t always find the
results completely convincing. I prefer to hear ensembles of the
size of The Monteverdi Choir providing contrast with the solo
singers. There’s an exception to every rule, however, and
I’ve always loved Joshua Rifkin’s 1985 one-to-a-part
recording of BWV 106. The intimacy of this wonderful, consoling
piece seems particularly suited to small forces. Tellingly, Bach
confined the instrumental accompaniment to a mere handful of instruments:
two recorders, two violas da gamba, a cello and organ. There’s
a real air of intimacy, indeed, of privacy, to this cantata: it’s
akin to chamber music.
This is Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s second recording of the
cantata. His first was made for DG Archiv back in 1989 and for
it he slimmed down the choir to 4/3/3/3. For this new recording
he’s reduced the soprano line by one but otherwise the forces
remain the same. Rifkin, of course, used his solo quartet to sing
the chorus parts but Gardiner keeps his soloists separate in both
of his recordings.
This is a funeral cantata, written while Bach was working in Mühlhausen
and almost certainly in 1707 which means it’s the work of
a man in his early twenties. As Alfred Dürr has written,
the cantata ‘is a work of genius, such as even great masters
seldom achieve….it could be argued that in later years
Bach’s art became a great deal more mature, but it hardly
grew more profound.’ I wonder if there is anything more
lovely and touching in all of Bach than the exquisite little Sonatina
with which the work begins. It’s a mere twenty bars long
but in the space of less than three minutes Bach manages to distil
such poignancy that one can only marvel. In this performance the
gently soothing recorders, suggesting the Spirit, blend perfectly
with each other and with the gambas: all is in perfect accord.
By contrast, the gambas seem slightly heavier in Gardiner’s
old recording and the slightly softer focus in which all the instruments
are heard this time is preferable. Rifkin’s instruments
are recorded much more closely, giving a decidedly studio-bound
impression, which is less satisfactory.
The Monteverdi Choir members offer light, wonderfully clear singing
in the opening chorus. Nicholas Mulroy makes a very good job of
the short tenor arioso. I’d thought I might prefer the usually
sweet tones of Anthony Rolfe Johnson on the old recording but
in fact I don’t, good though Rolfe Johnson is. Hannah Morrison
is a singer I don’t think I’ve heard before but I
appreciated her light, clear soprano. In the earlier recording
Nancy Argenta has a marginally fuller tone but I like both these
singers equally. In 1989 Gardiner used a male alto, Michael Chance,
and although Meg Bragle sings well enough on the new recording
she sounds a bit plain compared to Chance’s more characterful
tone. However, as if to compensate, I much prefer the bass on
the new recording: Stephen Varcoe does a reliable job on the 1989
recording but Peter Harvey, one of the best Bach basses of recent
years, offers much more. In particular he excels in the vox
Christi arioso ‘Heute wirst du mit mir im Paradies
sein’ in which his singing is wonderfully sensitive and
refined. Joshua Rifkin uses four good singers – the soprano
and bass are the pick of them – but I prefer both of Gardiner’s
solo quartets. His new recording of the cantata is brought to
a conclusion with a light-footed and spirited account of the final
chorus.
Incidentally, one small way in which the SDG disc scores over
the Archiv version is that each section is separately tracked
– as is the case with Rifkin also – whereas Archiv
divide the whole cantata into just four tracks. This new Gardiner
recording is now my favourite among these three – and others
that I’ve heard but not mentioned here.
So far as I’m aware the Easter Oratorio is new to Gardiner’s
discography; had there been an earlier version I’m sure
I would have bought it. This large-scale cantata was first heard
in Leipzig at Easter in 1725. It was a hastily-arranged parody
of a secular cantata written in the same year. Subsequently, Bach
revised it twice; firstly probably in 1738, and once more in the
mid-1740s.
What a start Bach provides to his celebration of the Resurrection.
Three ringing trumpets, resplendent here, enrich the opening Sinfonia;
this music must have made the Leipzig Easter congregation sit
up. Gardiner and his players really herald Easter morning in great
style, but it’s not all fanfares; later in the movement
there’s a nimble violin solo from Maya Homburger. After
the initial celebrations there’s an Adagio section which
features super oboe playing from Michael Niesseman. Then the trumpets
are off again, but this time they’re joined by the chorus
and what arresting singing we hear from The Monteverdi Choir.
The singing is superbly vital and energetic, full of Easter joy,
and I love the way they use words such as ‘laufet’
as rhythmic springboards. It’s interesting to note that
we owe this marvellous chorus to the 1740s revision: prior to
that it was a vocal duet.
Alfred Dürr observes that this oratorio differs from all
Bach’s other sacred music in that ‘it is based on
a sung plot rather than one narrated by an Evangelist.’
Thus, in the passages of recitative we usually find more that
one of the soloists engaged, and sometimes all four. The soloists
can be identified with New Testament characters: Mary the mother
of James (soprano); Mary Magdalene (alto); Peter (tenor); and
John (bass). Gardiner suggests in his notes that by the time of
the oratorio’s last revision this linkage to specific characters
had been ‘virtually expunged’ but Alfred Dürr
retains the nomenclature in the libretto in his classic study
of the cantatas and I find it rather helpful. Gardiner’s
Bach performances are invariably distinguished by a compelling
approach to recitative and so it is here.
The oratorio contains three notable arias and all are done well.
Hannah Morrison sings the long soprano aria, ‘Seele, deine
Spezerein’ very expressively and there’s a spellbinding
account of the limpid flute obbligato from Rachel Beckett. Nicholas
Mulroy sings ‘Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer’ most sensitively.
This aria, in which the tenor is quite often taken very low in
his register, is one in which death is compared to sleep. The
sense of a gentle lullaby is emphasised by the use of two zephyr-like
recorders in the accompaniment. Gardiner sets a bracing tempo
for the best-known aria, the alto’s ‘Saget, saget
mir geschwinde’. The tempo tests the agility of his singer
and oboe d’amore player – both pass the test easily
– and some listeners may feel the speed is a little hasty.
I felt that myself at first but, in fact, it’s fully justified
by the words and I quickly came to welcome the sense of urgency.
At the end those trumpets are back for the final chorus. What
an exuberant, rich and dancing paean of praise and thanksgiving
this is in the hands of Gardiner and his musicians. Even by Gardiner’s
standards this is a pretty spectacular conclusion.
Here are two very different sacred works by Bach. Both are given
outstanding performances and in their completely different ways
- one pensive and intimate, one much more public - these works
and the performances they receive show Gardiner and his musicians
at their best in Bach. The Monteverdi Choir was fifty years old
in March 2014 and it’s salutary to reflect that a great
number of the performers involved on this new disc will not even
have been born in March 1964. Notwithstanding changes to personnel
over the decades Gardiner has kept the standards of his choir
and orchestras stratospherically high, as is demonstrated abundantly
on this disc.
It’s not clear if the performances were recorded under studio
conditions or live as is the usual practice with SDG. There’s
certainly the electricity of live music-making. The recorded sound
is excellent. The documentation is first rate, as we’ve
come to expect from this label. The notes are by Sir John and
are drawn on material from his absorbing book, Music in the
Castle of Heaven. A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.
This is an outstanding addition to Gardiner’s Bach discography.
John Quinn
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