Das Falsche Herz

The appetite for evolving performance practices in Bach’s St Matthew Passion appears undiminished as we have gradually shifted, over the generations, from larger to smaller ensembles and also towards a greater dramatic understanding of the implications of Bach’s ambitious ‘stereophonic’ double choir and orchestra choreography. René Jacobs has never been shy of a new hunch and taking it as far as (and sometimes beyond) what is either reasonable or defining.

This wonderful new recording of the St Matthew Passion is the first to adopt Bach’s final revisions to the score as performed in 1742. Most casual listeners may not be able to identify the departure in scoring from the most commonly performed 1736 version: which amounts to the replacement of organ with harpsichord in the second orchestra, and an additional viola da gamba in a recitative and aria. However, where this recording really stands out is in the size of the vocal forces. A total of eight singers are employed, therefore providing just four voices for each of the two choirs. This arrangement clearly has potential disadvantages for those of us raised on the full chorus monumental direction from the likes of Richter and Klemperer. On the other hand, and as John Butt points out in his informative essay, there might be an aesthetic advantage in hearing the voices ‘as individuals constituting a group rather than simply as a crowd’.

Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental St. Matthew Passion was first performed on Good Friday in 1727 at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. It is the largest single composition Bach ever wrote, both in terms of length and in terms of instrumental and vocal forces. It requires two choruses, two orchestras, four vocal soloists for the arias and vocal soloists for each of the various character parts. Philippe Herreweghe's 1999 recording of Bach's masterpiece features a stellar cast and was a perennial catalog bestseller.

J.S. Bach - St. Matthew Passion (1742 version)
Dunedin Consort & Players
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz: 2,69 GB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Linn Records # CKD 313 | Country/Year: UK 2008
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Sacred | Source: Linn Records

This wonderful new recording of the St Matthew Passion is the first to adopt Bach's final revisions to the score as performed in 1742. Most casual listeners may not be able to identify the departure in scoring from the most commonly performed 1736 version: which amounts to the replacement of organ with harpsichord in the second orchestra, and an additional viola da gamba in a recitative and aria. However, where this recording really stands out is in the size of the vocal forces. A total of eight singers are employed, therefore providing just four voices for each of the two choirs. This arrangement clearly has potential disadvantages for those of us raised on the full chorus monumental direction from the likes of Richter and Klemperer…

It has haunted René Jacobs since childhood: first as a boy soprano in Ghent, then as a countertenor, he has constantly frequented the supreme masterpiece that is the 'St Matthew Passion'. Jacobs uses the layout of the Good Friday Vesper service from Bach's time, with choirs front and back, rather than side-by-side. He also gives us extra soloists to complete the bi-choral effect. For Bach, the two halves were 28 metres apart. At that distance, coordination difficulties begin to appear between the speed of light, and the speed of sound, and we cannot determine how Bach dealt with this problem. However the wonders of SACD multichannel surround sound can at last give an impression of what Bach intended for St Thomas’ Church in Leipzig.

The Dunedin Consort, under the direction of John Butt, follows its award-winning recording of the Messiah with J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion. This recording cements the Dunedin Consort's reputation as a group with particular expertise in Baroque music and performance practice. The Dunedin Consort has established a reputation for performing familiar works from the Baroque era in ways which shed fresh light on the original performance: this new recording presents the Matthew Passion for the first time with Bach's final revisions of scoring, as performed around 1742 (its most familiar form is the 1736 version).

In Spring 2015 the Academy of Ancient Music – described as “the finest period-instrument orchestra in the world” by Classic FM – releases a significant new recording of JS Bach St Matthew Passion BWV244, directed from the harpsichord by Richard Egarr.
Performed in the original 1727 version, and with a superlative roster of soloists, this recording is striking in its immediacy, clarity and directness, with numerous insightful and compelling details lost in subsequent versions.