Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments)
Sinfonia from Cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21
Cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82
Sinfonia from Cantata Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12
Cantata Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199
Krešimir Stražanac (baritone: BWV 82)
Dorothee Mields (soprano: BWV 199)
Staatskapelle Dresden/Philippe Herreweghe
rec. 2021, Semperoper, Dresden, Germany
CD 2 is a ‘bonus’ CD of excerpts (Verdi, Mahler, Berlioz)
Edition Staatskapelle Dresden – Vol. 51
PROFIL PH21024 [2 CDs: 124]
With this latest release entitled Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments) the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series has reached volume 51. Contained here is a pair of J.S. Bach’s greatest church cantatas from the 2021 anniversary concert held in memory of the destruction of Dresden in 1945. The themes of chosen cantatas are death and hope of salvation seen from the standpoint of their being a gateway to everlasting life.
The city of Dresden was destroyed by three days of Allied bombing raids, in February 1945. It is now an annual tradition for the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden to mark the anniversary date with a commemorative concert with no interval and or applause during the performance or at the conclusion. For the 2021 memorial concert, the Staatskapelle Dresden was keen to maintain the tradition and went ahead while observing coronavirus regulations – specifically, without a public audience and players socially distanced players on stage. It was recorded for Deutschlandfunk Kultur and broadcast as a message of peace and hope. Bach’s music was performed on the Semperoper stage by a chamber ensemble from the Staatskapelle and two solo singers. The title of the concert Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen is the opening words of the first aria from the cantata BWV 199.
An early music specialist, notably with the music of J.S. Bach, Philippe Herreweghe is celebrated for his work with period-instrument orchestras. He founded the Collegium Vocale Gent in 1970, La Chapelle Royale Paris 1977 and the Orchestre des Champs Élysées in 1991. He does not work exclusively in the early music field, but sometimes conducts large symphony orchestras, most recently the Vienna Philharmonic, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Philharmonia Orchestra. In the booklet notes, Herreweghe mentions that apart from specialist early music ensembles he would only consider playing J.S. Bach either with the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam or as here with the Staatskapelle Dresden. To fly to this recorded concert during the coronavirus pandemic was not possible, so Herreweghe drove to Dresden, a thousand-mile round trip from his home in Brussels. He directs here a modest-sized ensemble of twenty-five players including the concertmaster Matthias Wollong, all from the Staatskapelle Dresden with the exception of the guest players oboist Rafael Sousa and organist Bart Naessens.
Written throughout his creative life, Bach’s large body of cantatas, of which some two hundred survive today, are important works at the very core of his output. Bach might commence a cantata with an orchestral sinfonia, but often he didn’t. Neither of the chosen pair of church cantatas here has an introductory sinfonia, so they have been borrowed from other suitable church cantatas.
The first cantata is one of the best known and most recorded, Ich habe genug (I have enough or I am content), BWV 82. Written to a text possibly by Christoph Brinkmann in 1727 for the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Leipzig, it features three solo bass arias sung here by bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac.
Herreweghe begins with a Sinfonia from the church cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (I had much grief), BWV 21. Its doleful music seems to reflect the sadness and suffering in the text to come. Rendering his arias beautifully, Stražana conveys suitable piety and unfailing compassion. The import of the text concerns the struggle of preparing oneself for death, wishing to escape from the entrapment of despair on earth for the Strabane peace and consolation of God’s arms. Especially engaging is the tireless level of sincerity Stražana gives to the text, resulting in a convincing sense of consolation. Scarcely less impressive is Stražana’s deeply felt singing of the aria Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen (Fall asleep, you weary eyes) known sometimes as the ‘slumber aria’. Standing out, too, in the prominent oboe part, is the accomplished playing of Rafael Sousa, its glorious sound weaving its way around the line of the bass soloist.
Bach wrote Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (My heart drowns in blood) for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity to Georg Christian Lehms’s text, which concerns a repentant sinner’s journey to find redemption and gives this album its title.
Dorothee Mields sings Bach’s original 1714 version of Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut a solo cantata for soprano with obbligato parts for oboe and viola. As the cantata begins with a recitative and aria, Herreweghe has chosen to start the score with the Sinfonia from the church cantata Weinen, klagen, sorgen, zagen (Weeping, lamenting, sorrow, sighing) BWV 12. Such an exquisite lament, the aria Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments) is sung sublimely by Mields, the overall effect heightened by the accompanying oboe part played by Rafael Sousa. In the following short chorale: Ich, dein betrübtes Kind (I, your troubled child) one senses that Mields is living the words of the penitent sinner while the viola part played by Sebastian Herberg is very much her equal. In the notes Herreweghe points out the implication of the text ‘As a result of my deep wounds… You will enter paradise’ to ensure that the memorial concert concludes with an optimistic message which is ‘one of hope in salvation.’
The results being so cohesive, it comes as no surprise to learn that both Stražanac and Mields have previously worked with Herreweghe several times. Herreweghe adapts splendidly to the Staatskapelle’s modern instruments and tradition of playing and avoids becoming bogged down with detail. The responsive, focused and unified the playing of the Staatskapelle Dresden excels and the instruments sound impressive, too. Standing out for me are the sincerity of the performances and the elevated level of reverence the soloists afford accord the sacred German texts.
Recorded in the outstanding acoustic of Semperoper, the sound has clarity and first-class balance. The second ‘bonus’ CD contains extracts from three huge works for chorus and orchestra appropriate to the theme of death and hope of salvation by Verdi, Berlioz and Mahler, all recorded and previously released for the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series on Profil. Included on the ‘bonus’ CD are the interviews that Stefan Lang held in German with Philippe Herreweghe and with violist Andreas Schreiber.
Verdi completed his Messa da Requiem in 1874 to commemorate the death in 1873 of the Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, a man he revered. It was premiered in 1874 to mark the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death. The three chosen extracts, the sections: Requiem, Dies irae and Tuba mirum are from the recording conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Memorial Concert held on 13th February 2014 in the Semperoper, Dresden.
Berlioz wrote his Grande Messe des Morts a massive work using a huge orchestra and choral forces, in 1837. The work is in remembrance of the soldiers who died in the French Revolution of July 1830. The recording here is the Dies irae by Sir Colin Davis, conducting the Memorial Concert given on the 13th February 1994 at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden.
The title of the Mahler Symphony No. 2 Resurrection and the source of the text of the Finale (fifth movement) is taken from German poet Friedrich Klopstock’s hymn Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection). Although the work is not a requiem, its text does concern death and the soul striving towards God and redemption. The chosen extract is the Finale which comprises of Klopstock’s text Auferstehn, ja auferstehn wirst du (Rise, yes you will rise) together with some of Mahler’s own verses. This performance of the Finale is part of the recording conducted by Bernard Haitink at the Memorial Concert on the 13th February 1995 in the Semperoper.
A valuable feature of this Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series, a bilingual edition in German and English, is the scrupulously produced booklets, produced to a high standard with one caveat. Included are well researched essays, reproductions of artworks and documents dating from J.S. Bach’s lifetime, and photographs of the vocal soloists from the recording session, the Staatskapelle chamber group and director Herreweghe. There are also number of historical photographs showing the destruction of Dresden after Allied bombing during World War Two. English translation of the interviews with Philippe Herreweghe and Andreas Schreiber (assistant principal viola) are provided. My grumble concerns the German sung texts and English translations, parts of which but not all are included in the body of an essay. Ideally, full sung texts and translations would be given separately and placed alongside each other in the booklet.
These are exemplary performances. From first to last note, I am totally engaged by Herreweghe’s rewarding accounts of two of J.S. Bach’s greatest church cantatas.
Michael Cookson
Contents
CD 1 [49]
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
1. Sinfonia from Cantata ‘Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis’ BWV21
2-6. Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’ BWV82
Krešimir Stražanac, baritone (BWV82)
Staatskapelle Dresden/Philippe Herreweghe
7. Sinfonia from Cantata ‘Weinen, Klagen, sorgen, Zagen’ BWV12
8-15. Cantata ‘Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut’ BWV199
Dorothee Mields, soprano (BWV199)
Staatskapelle Dresden/Philippe Herreweghe
rec. Broadcast transmission without audience given 12th February, 2021, Semperoper, Dresden
CD 2 (Bonus CD) [75]
1. Interview (in German) with Philippe Herreweghe by Stefan Lang [8]
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Extracts from ‘Messa da Requiem’
2. Requiem [8]
3. Dies irae [2]
4. Tuba mirum [3]
Krassimira Stoyanova (soprano), Marina Prudenskaya (mezzo-soprano), Charles Castronovo (tenor), Georg Zeppenfeld (bass)
Staatsopernchor Dresden,
Staatskapelle Dresden/Christian Thielemann
rec. Memorial Concert, 13th February 2014 Semperoper, Dresden
Edition Staatskapelle Dresden – vol. 46
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Extract from ‘Grande Messe des Morts’, Op. 5 (or Requiem)
5. Dies irae [13]
Keith Ikaia-Purdy (tenor)
Sinfoniechor Dresden, Singakademie Dresden, Staatsopernchor Dresden,
Staatskapelle Dresden/Sir Colin Davis
rec. Memorial Concert, 13th February 1994, Kreuzkirche, Dresden
Edition Staatskapelle Dresden – vol. 20
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Extract from Symphony No. 2 in C minor ‘Resurrection’
6. Movement 5: Auferstehen, ja auferstehen [36]
Charlotte Margiono (soprano), Jard van Nes (alto)
Staatsopernchor Dresden, Sinfoniechor Dresden
Staatskapelle Dresden/Bernard Haitink
rec. Memorial Concert, 13th February 1995, Semperoper, Dresden
Edition Staatskapelle Dresden – vol. 33
7. Interview (in German) with Andreas Schreiber (assistant principal viola) by Stefan Lang [3]
