Erbarme dich, mein Gott
Today I went to the Mattheus Passion, composed by a fellow named Johann
Sebastian. It was performed 100% acoustically by the Hague Residence orchestra
and the Residence Bach Choir under the pulse of Arnold Ostman. Since Rammstein
became popular in the Netherlands a few years ago, there is a real revival of
german music. So it was not surprising to find the concert hall almost full.
Public from all ages was present to listen to this great piece of music and
perhaps to meet old friends or flirt a little with their neighbours.
Originally the Mattheus Passion is a concept album, not much unlike Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. It is a sad story about a man, who is discriminated (and later even crucified!) because of his unusual religion. This theme is very old and loosely based on a true story.
Lots of covers were incorporated in this piece. Especially the theme from Hassler's 'Haupt of Blut und Wunden' was used in more than one choral. Besides this, Bach also stole some music from his other works. This is not negative, this passion is the best ever written: super harmonies, impaling contrapuncts very balanced orchestration, lovely flute- and other solo's, Bach's thoroughly thought out bass lines and some of the world's most famous aria's. And then I even don't try to bother you with all the mathematics and tricks that are involved in Bach's music (read Godel, Escher, Bach for a start). So this part was absolutely right. But what about the performance?
The orchestra, choir and director were absolutely professionals. Not much more to say about them (OK one thing ;-), the start was a bit unenthusiastic). The boy's choir made some mistakes here and there, but hey I wouldn't be castrated for this task either, so I guess we have to live with that.
The soprano Lenneke Ruiten was a real charming, but also a bit nervous, young lady. Her voice was amazing and lent perfectly for the aria's. If she learns to better interact with the audience (perhaps visit a rock concert to learn the trick) , she will become very famous. I really have no idea if the bass Robbert Murray is a good bass singer. He is very entertaining however and I found his parts a pleasure to listen too. The alt Cecile van Sant and the tenor (?) were just right. The star of the evening was the evangelist. He was able to built a nice tension and was really acting the story (and sung well too). A welcome surprise and unlike any recording I have ever heard.
A small note about the tempi: This piece is performed by different directors in between the 2 and a half and 4 hours! This performance was relatively fast. Sometimes too fast in my opinion ("Ich wil dir meine herze schenken"), sometimes just right (the recitatives were very nicely timed). Most of the time I found the tempo in this performance the right one for modern instruments (some of the flute solos are (in my opinion) impossible to play on a baroque traverso this fast). Personal taste can differ (but yes, Ton Koopman really needs to get some pepper....)
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