Die Stille Vor Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach - St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244
The Netherlands Bach Society - Jos van Veldhoven
EAC+LOG+CUE | 3x FLAC: 670 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Channel Classics # CCS SA 32511 | Country/Year: Netherlands 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

…Whatever other recordings you may have in your library, Veldhoven’s inspired reading, with its exceptional blend of committed musicianship and scholarship should definitely be auditioned by all who love this work. This is without doubt a top recommendation and anyone receiving this set, as an Easter gift, will surely be delighted.

Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

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).

Bach's St Matthew Passion is almost always described as a double-choir composition for two choirs and two orchestras. Two large ensembles play in dialogue, and the score presents a symmetrical structure. The scoring of the two groups of singers and players is identical, and each ensemble has four soloists for the arias. On the stage one often sees two equal groups of singers, and an orchestra likewise divided exactly into two. The Evangelist and Jesus are often the only exceptions to this impressive symmetry.

The opening with the opening choir "Kommt, ihr Töchter" immediately sets the tone; not a quick-played waltz, but imposing and wide-set, like the start of a great human drama. Richter exceeds 11 minutes with this tempo. Only the version by Otto Klemperer is even slower. But unlike Klemperer, here in the rest of the MP we are not dealing with a somewhat stately approach, but with a sharply profiled and dramatic one!

Masaaki Suzuki is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan. He also teaches and conducts at Yale University and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world. He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christians and amateur musicians; his father had worked professionally as a pianist. Masaaki Suzuki began playing organ professionally at church services at the age of 12.

In 2010, Maestro Riccardo Chailly records Johann Sebastian Bach for Decca for the very first time with 3 releases. Having conducted the illustrious Gewandhaus Orchestra since 1986, this esteemed conductor's association with Leipzig is but one year less than Bach's. Chailly's profound musicality illuminates three of Bach's large-scale masterpieces: The St. Matthew Passion, the Brandenburg Concertos and the Christmas Oratorio. The 2nd release from this triology, the St. Matthew Passion is both riveting and dynamic. Played on modern instruments, Chailly's Bach beautifully demonstrates that a vivid, stylistically aware performance is not the exclusive preserve of period instrument ensembles. Distinguished German vocal soloists, including acclaimed bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, rise gloriously to the challenges of Bach's exalted score.