Penny Plain; Tuppence Coloured! Many readers may not
know, or remember, that common tag? Nowadays promoters are engaged in
a quest, sometimes a desperate one, for eye-catching ways to renew the
appeal of familiar music and sell ticket, DVDs and CDs to new audiences.
It may well be that an incomprehensible clash the same night with Deborah
Warner's staged version of Bach's St John Passion at ENO (they happen
all too often in London, splitting potential audiences) explains the
poor turn-out for Helmuth Rilling's Stuttgart team at The Barbican?
Rilling's
credentials are stupefying. Do click onto that link. He is responsible
for the Hänssler Edition Bachakademie's 172 CDs of the complete
works of J. S. Bach, which of itself warranted an effort to hear him
with his regular team of players and singers (several of the same ones
are featured on the Christmas
Oratorio). They all sang easily, with complete confidence, enjoying
The Barbican's transformed acoustic, which makes small forces sound
full and carries voices without any need to force. Rilling may not be
trendy, but nor is he unaware of modern 'authentic' practises. His tempi
are fast and forward driving and he keeps a firm grip on the proceedings
(even conducting the continuo's every chord in the recitatives) but
he carries his singers with him and there was never the problem experienced
with Christopher
Hogwood and the AAM.
The first view of the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart on
the platform is disconcerting, the strings backed by an array of modern
woodwinds from gleaming silver flute to fat contra-bassoon. James Taylor's
ringing tenor was a match for them, but two oboes and bassoon seriously
compromised Ingeborg Danz in her low-lying first aria. Soprano Sibylla
Rubens, who had to sit patiently on stage for a whole hour between her
two brief appearances, was almost too charming in her high, floating
phrases declaring woe that Jesus is dead! The men have the best opportunities
and all were good, Marcus Ullman (Evangelist) and both baritones memorable.
Some of Rilling's instrumentalists have probably been with him a long
time and perhaps their not taking to period instruments made this a
'historical performance' of a particular, unfashionable kind. The choir,
Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, was keen and alert, revelling in
the drama of the intricately contrapuntal choruses and punctuating the
story with grave, comforting chorales. Nearly two hours without a break,
this performance held attention easily and I confess I preferred it
to the ENO staging (in its first run) and even to Herreweghe's (one
of my current Bach idols) in Zurich's
Tonhalle, where the acoustics can be a serious let-down, depending
on where you sit. There is no absolutism and circumstances alter critical
responses.
Shortly after their live appearance at The Barbican I received Rilling's
studio recording of the St John Passion (Hänssler
CD 92.075), together with a recent contemporary Requiem,
both involving his Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart. Two of the singers
heard in London took part, James Taylor and Ingeborg Danz, who was brought
forward by the balance engineer so that she easily dominated the accompanying
woodwinds. Matthias Goerne and Juliane Banse were among the more starry
cast, and both in good voice, but I found Andreas Schmidt's hectoring
Eilt, ihr angefochten Seelen, and Himmel, reise in the
Appendix, not to my taste. Overall the recording failed to recapture
the special atmosphere of the shared live experience and with the best
will, I found myself emotionally untouched by this document, recorded
over five days in March 1996 at the Stadthalle Sindelfingen. Perhaps
Bach's Passions are by their nature works that should only be received
in live situations?
The Requiem of Reconciliation (Hänssler
CD 98.931) proved a wonderful surprise, a live recording
from Stuttgart of the world premiere in 1995 of an inspired commission
by the Bachakademie in memory of victims of the Second World War. The
Stuttgart Gächinger Kantorei are joined by the Cracow Chamber Choir,
with distinguished international soloists and The Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra under Helmuth Rilling, who distinguishes himself in coordinating
music, much of it in advanced modernist idioms, by a roster of leading
composers, including Berio, Kurtag, Nordheim, Penderecki and Rihm, Rands
and Weir of UK, with several others less well known to us, each of them
allocated a portion of the text. The notes by Rilling indicate that
he 'steered' the composition process but not whether the composers were
in touch with each other with a view to adjacent sections fitting together?
The 'lightness and transparency' of John Harbison's simpler Juste
judex is described as 'creating a clear counterweight', but its
idiom jarred for me so I felt that may be special pleading.
After a natural break between the two CDs (was there an interval?)
Rands' Interludium leads into a more 'accessible' and overall
serene group by Dalbavie, Weir and Penderecki, who use Gregorian chant
overtly; Ingeborg Danz (Rilling's Bach alto in London &
on CD) notably expressive here. The temperature rises for Rihm's wordless
Communio which leads into Schnittke's canonic Communio II,
completed by Rozhdestvensky after Schnittke's stroke in June 1994 and
then to the climax of the whole work, the Japanese Joji
Yuasa's Responsorium which unites horror and reconciliation,
before a touching Epilog by Kurtag to an 'Inscription on a grave
in Cornwall', touchingly rendered in English by the Polish choir.
Heard on Good Friday, this multi-composer Requiem was deeply
moving and if I am asked for my MusicWeb Record
of the Year 2002, this must be a strong contender, even
though it is not a new release. Requiem of Reconciliation is
a natural successor to Britten's War Requiem (premiered with
English, German and Soviet Russian soloists) and would be a marvellous
choice for the opening of next year's Proms; whatever may be the state
of our war-riven world by then, the theme of reconciliation will be
paramount.
I have reviewed Bach's St John Passion (and many other Passions
and Requiems) over many years and in many different guises, live and
on CD and in this report have included an unusual number of
hyperlinks, instead of illustrations and photos, which take precious
time to post with reviews, and can often be found on line. Explore
those links for a broader picture. The most recent St John Passion is
Sofia Gubaidulina's, one of four commissioned by the Bachakademie for
the Millennium, premiered in Stuttgart and all recorded, three by Hänssler
(Hänssler Verlag 098405000)
and the fourth, Tan Dun's St Matthew Passion, by Sony. Read also
about two of the most moving of many 20th C. examples, Martinu's
Greek
Passion (very belatedly staged at Covent Garden) and Kjell Mørk
Karlsen's
austere St John Passion, eminently suitable for local churches,
but not yet given in UK despite my advocacy.
Following all my links would take you on a reading tour, requiring
half an hour or more to digest all the connections that Rilling's Bach
at The Barbican brought to mind, similar, I hope, to the pleasure of
browsing an encyclopaedia. It would be helpful to know whether visitors
welcome that possibility, for me one of the glories of the Web, to learn
if you generally prefer expansive or succinct concert reports and also
to have your views about pictorial illustrations?
Peter
Grahame Woolf
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Bach, J S
St. John Passion
Vol 75 (BWV 245, Johannes passion)
hänssler Classic edition bachakademie
Hänssler
Verlag 092075000
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Requiem of Reconciliation
Composer: Berio, Kurtag,
Nordheim, Penderecki, Rihm, Rands, Weir, Schnittke, Yuasa
etc
Conductor: Helmuth
Rilling
Performer: Tobias
Janzik, Donna
Brown, et al.
Orchestra: Stuttgart
Gächinger Kantorei,
Cracow
Chamber Choir
Label: Hänssler Classic
Catalogue Number: 98931
Released: 1 November, 1995
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