La Passione

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to Pentatone together with soprano Christina Landshamer, presenting La Passione, a collection of dazzling concert arias on love, longing and loss by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, paired with the latter’s “La Passione” Symphony. Ranging from pastoral simplicity to exuberant outrage, the programme offers some of the finest vocal writing around 1800, including some of Beethoven’s rare and little-known excursions to Italian bravura opera, as well as one of the most dramatic and expressive symphonies of the eighteenth-century.

JJohann Gottlieb Naumann, a contemporary of Joseph Haydn, was associated with Dresden, worked in Sweden and travelled in Italy. In his Passione di Gesù Cristo he concentrates on smaller scale emotions and conflicts – albeit in the context of the (conventional) Passion story. It was written, probably, in 1767. That’s quite an undertaking for a twenty-six year old, although Naumann already had several other vocal and choral successes to his name.

This the work was first given in Vienna during Holy Week, 1729, the first of many collaborations between Caldara and Metastasio. Mention of the great librettist provides a prompt that my original review failed to stress the outstanding qualities of the text. Divided into two halves, the first part of the oratorio relates the story of the crucifixion as witnessed through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, John, and Joseph of Arimathea, who respond to the eager questioning of the remorseful Peter. The second part consists of philosophical commentary on the meaning of the crucifixion. Particularly in Part I, Metastasio draws on vivid imagery to convey the full horror of the event. Here, for example, is John describing the nailing to the cross: "… and some hardened, loutish men, sweating as they worked, bathed his face with their foul perspiration."

Niccolò Jommelli is a composer whose significance in his own time has strangely not endured. His importance as an innovator in the field of opera is probably as significant as that of Gluck, in the generation immediately following. He was particularly important in the development of orchestrally accompanied recitative, a feature that is apparent throughout this oratorio. Indeed, the orchestral importance is one of the highlights of the disc, for, while the singing is excellent, the playing of the Berliner Barock Akademie is outstanding. There are also several excellently played aria obbligatos. This is the second feature of Jommelli’s writing that comes across as reason for surprise at his neglect. The writing in his arias is both melodically beautiful and extensively developed; many of the arias are seven or eight minutes long, yet with no padding of sequences. The demands that this places on the soloists is considerable, and they are a uniformly excellent group, Anke Herrmann and Jeffrey Francis in particular rising to the challenge of some exceptional demands with panache.

Interesting that the librettist of this oratorio, none other than Pietro Metastasio, avoids biblical passages completely. In doing so, this lets in an emotive realism that allows a quasi-operatic treatment by Prague-born Myslivecek. The composer's penchant for Metastasio in his thirty-odd operas obviously extended to oratorio. The apostle Peter becomes a major figure in the drama. Absent from the crucifixion itself, he has to make urgent enquiry into the state of play. Enter Mary Magdalene - a Biblical character under much re-evaluation in current spirituality - who accompanied Jesus to the cross. Other characters include John (here of course Giovanni), the second eyewitness, Joseph of Arimathea (Giuseppe).

La Passione secondo Matteo di Francesco Corteccia Presentazione del CD con esecuzione di musica dal vivo L’Associazione L’Homme Armé presenta Una Passione per il popolo. La Passione secondo Matteo di Francesco Corteccia, prima incisione discografica al mondo, pubblicata da EMA Vinci, dell’inedita Passione secondo Matteo del musico prediletto del Granduca Cosimo I. Intervengono: Gabriele Giacomelli, Giuseppe Scali (EMA Vinci), Elisabetta Torsellicon la partecipazione di:Pietro Bartolini eL’Homme Armé:Andrés Montilla Acurero Paolo Fanciullacci Riccardo Pisani Gabriele LombardiFabio Lombardo Ingresso libero su prenotazione.L’iniziativa si svolgerà nel rispetto dei protocolli anti-covid. Sarà necessario l’utilizzo della mascherina e in tutti gli spazi verrà garantito il…