Search - Hermann Prey, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karl Richter :: Bach: St. John Passion

Excellent St. John Passion

Johannes Climacus | 02/16/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On my shelf, I have this recording next to Gardiner's Christmas Oratorio. Matter and antimatter, you say? I don't think so. Simply put, this performance is musically convincing and a joy to listen to; it does not suffer from the ponderous tempi that hurt Richter's later work, and packs a wonderful dramatic punch. Kudos especially to Haefliger; his performance of "Ach, mein Sinn" gets me every time.There is one small defect: the fermatas in the chorales are uniformly held long. This sounds great in "O grosse Lieb" but cuts into the choir's momentum in a couple of the other chorales. Otherwise, a brilliant performance."

The Best "Traditional" St. John Passion Available

Johannes Climacus | Beverly, Massachusetts | 03/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In his day, Karl Richter was considered a Bach "specialist." We accord that title nowadays, if at all, to purveyors of period performance practice--and rightly so. But there's something to be gained by appreciating earlier conceptions of how this music should go. If you favor a more "traditional" approach to Bach's sacred music, featuring a large chorus, modern instruments and "operatic"-style singers, then you can't do better than Richter's 1964 account of the St. John Passion.



There are few Bach performances on record as compelling as this. Richter's direction evinces a profound understanding of how Bach's theological convictions informed his musico-dramatic treatment of the Passion story. He paces the sacred drama to perfection, particularly in the great trial scene that constitutes the central panel of Part II, in which he allows the intensity to build inexorably as the principal "characters" (the turba being one of them) act out their preordained roles, as in a Greek tragedy. I know of no other conductor who highlights Bach's text-painting so insightfully in such sections as the turba "Wir haben keinen König," the chorale "In meinen Herzens Gründen" or the chorus of Roman centurians casting lots for Jesus' robe (to cite just three among many such instances). Richter's most impressive moment, however, comes at the very end of the piece, with his gradually intensifying, then near-apocalyptic account of "Ach, Herr, lass' dein lieb' Engelein." Once heard, never forgotten.



Richter's noble conception of this work would be ineffectual if he didn't have first-rate musicians to work with. But he does. The Munich Bach Choir, as usual, cover themselves in glory. For such a large group their rhythmic articulation and diction are phenomenal, as is their capacity for realizing the contrasting "affects" inscribed in the various chorale settings interspersed throughout the work. The instrumental ensemble responds with extraordinary precision and élan to Richter's often challenging tempos and careful highlighting of textural detail; obbligati are rendered with expressive phrasing and considerable virtuosity. Among the vocal soloists, Haefliger is a rivetingly dramatic narrator and Herman Prey a warmly human (if occasionally stentorian) Christus. If Lear and Töpper are less than idiomatic Bach singers, they project the texts of their arias with passionate conviction, and that counts for more, in the end, than stylistic accuracy. In the Bass arias, Keith Engen sings expressively, if a bit heavily; "Eilt, ihr angefocht'nen Seelen" is particularly eloquent.



This inexpensive double-CD set is superbly remastered, conveying an even more vivid impression than the original LP's (which I still cherish in their beautifully emroidered Archiv Production box). The acoustic, though roomy, is warm and relatively flattering to the voices.



A mandatory acquisition for "traditionalists" and any listener who is curious about the legacy of this outstanding Bach interpreter."