Bach's St. Matthew Passion

Started by Bogey, December 10, 2007, 05:56:01 PM

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czgirb

Quote from: Coopmv on January 21, 2011, 06:02:26 PM
My apology as my last post was not so clear.  Harnoncourt does not have an SMP performance on DVD.  I was just comparing his general conducting style I have observed for the Bach Cantatas and Brandenburg Concertos ...

Thank you for the guidance.
Tioday I search that on YouTube and found this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr1jkr6hv8Y
It's a BIG BIG SURPRISE for seeing YOUNG Harnoncourt.
Thank you so much.

Coopmv

Quote from: czgirb on January 23, 2011, 04:56:23 PM
Thank you for the guidance.
Tioday I search that on YouTube and found this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr1jkr6hv8Y
It's a BIG BIG SURPRISE for seeing YOUNG Harnoncourt.
Thank you so much.

This YouTube segment actually came from the Brandenburg Concertos DVD, which I own as well.  I think the performance was originally filmed in the 1980's.

FideLeo

Quote from: Coopmv on January 23, 2011, 05:07:28 PM
This YouTube segment actually came from the Brandenburg Concertos DVD, which I own as well.  I think the performance was originally filmed in the 1980's.

I had that on a VHS cassette.  I got a bit scared watching him drive the Concentus with those ferocious stares.  ;)
HIP for all and all for HIP! Harpsichord for Bach, fortepiano for Beethoven and pianoforte for Brahms!

Coopmv

Quote from: masolino on January 23, 2011, 11:20:30 PM
I had that on a VHS cassette.  I got a bit scared watching him drive the Concentus with those ferocious stares.  ;)

Harnoncourt conducts with extreme intensity ...    ;)

Marc

Some nice stuff I found, thanks to the website http://www.bach-cantatas.com/

J.S. Bach: Matthäus-Passion BWV 244

Regensburger Domspatzen (Regensburg Cathedral Choir)
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Choir)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra)

Tenor [Evangelist]: Maximilian Schmitt
Bass [Jesus]: Detlef Roth
Soprano: Lenneke Ruiten
Alto: Wilke te Brummelstroete
Tenor: Steve Davisilim
Bass [Pilatus]: Yorck Felix Speer

Soloists from the choir:
Bass [Judas]: Werner Rollenmüller
Bass [Petrus]: Rudolf Hillebrand
Bass [Pontifex I]; Christof Hartkopf
Bass [Pontifex II]: Wolfgang Klose
Alto [Testis]: Sigrid Horvath
Tenor [Testis]: Andrew Lepri Meyer
Soprano [Ancilla I]: Simona Brüninghaus
Soprano [Ancilla II]: Atsuko Suzuki
Soprano [Uxor Pilati]: Barbara Fleckenstein

Max Hanft (Harpsichord)
Markus Märkl (Organ)

Peter Dijkstra (Conductor)

TT: 157:24.43

Recording location:
Herkules-Saal, Residenz München, Munich, Germany.
Sound files: 320kb/s, mp3
Recording date:
February 23rd, 2008

Links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/316865791/BWV_244_Live_Dijkstra_1.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/316872660/BWV_244_Live_Dijkstra_2.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/316878637/BWV_244_Live_Dijkstra_3.zip

Marc

Despite going from Ascension Day to Whitsun, I listened to fragments of BWV 244, 2nd recording by Harnoncourt, live in Concertgebouw Amsterdam 1985.

Such a pity he withdrew this issue!



The opening choir, sung by an amateur choir (which fell apart after only a few years of existence), is much better taken than in his 3rd one, in which it is performed disappointingly shallow.

The voices of f.i. Kurt Equiluz and Arleen Augér .... such great Bach interpreters IMHO. At a certain point in Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben Augér's voice literally breaks, probably to her own embarrassment, but it brings an extra tad of emotion.
Also nice to listen to a young Jaap van Zweden (now conductor in Dallas) playing a sensitive obbligato violin part in Erbarme dich, mein Gott. Well, maybe Jadwiga Rappé isn't really a Bach mezzo (too much vibrato) and the same goes for Robert Holl, who's more a Wagner bass-bariton, and I've never really liked Anton Scharinger's voice, but still: the intensity of the entire performance is great. Sometimes even 'too great', which leads to a crazy tempo in Sehet Jesus hat die Hand, with Rappé sounding kinda like Al Jarreau. ;D

Bach/Harnoncourt fans who are able to get it somewhere sometime somehow: grab it!

Coopmv

Quote from: Marc on June 08, 2011, 11:50:17 AM
Despite going from Ascension Day to Whitsun, I listened to fragments of BWV 244, 2nd recording by Harnoncourt, live in Concertgebouw Amsterdam 1985.

Such a pity he withdrew this issue!



The opening choir, sung by an amateur choir (which fell apart after only a few years of existence), is much better taken than in his 3rd one, in which it is performed disappointingly shallow.

The voices of f.i. Kurt Equiluz and Arleen Augér .... such great Bach interpreters IMHO. At a certain point in Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben Augér's voice literally breaks, probably to her own embarrassment, but it brings an extra tad of emotion.
Also nice to listen to a young Jaap van Zweden (now conductor in Dallas) playing a sensitive obbligato violin part in Erbarme dich, mein Gott. Well, maybe Jadwiga Rappé isn't really a Bach mezzo (too much vibrato) and the same goes for Robert Holl, who's more a Wagner bass-bariton, and I've never really liked Anton Scharinger's voice, but still: the intensity of the entire performance is great. Sometimes even 'too great', which leads to a crazy tempo in Sehet Jesus hat die Hand, with Rappé sounding kinda like Al Jarreau. ;D

Bach/Harnoncourt fans who are able to get it somewhere sometime somehow: grab it!

The late Arleen Augér is one of my favorite sopranos and among the very few world-class sopranos the US has ever produced.  She recorded many Bach choral works with Helmut Rilling but I did not know she actually made some recordings with Harnoncourt.

Wendell_E

Quote from: Coopmv on June 11, 2011, 06:09:37 AM
The late Arleen Augér is one of my favorite sopranos and among the very few world-class sopranos the US has ever produced.

Oh no he didn't!.
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

Marc

Quote from: Coopmv on June 11, 2011, 06:09:37 AM
The late Arleen Augér is one of my favorite sopranos and among the very few world-class sopranos the US has ever produced.  She recorded many Bach choral works with Helmut Rilling but I did not know she actually made some recordings with Harnoncourt.

AFAIK, she lived in the Netherlands since the seventies (Amsterdam, later Barneveld) and was a regular appearance in Het Gebouw ('The Building'), as the Amsterdam people call the Concertgebouw. I first heard her on Palm Sunday 1979 (SMP/Harnoncourt) and fell in love with her voice immediately.

In a book about the Amsterdam SMP tradition, there's this nice story from flutist Paul Verhey. He was used to listen thoroughly to the arioso Er hat uns allen wohlgetan to come into the right spirit for his flute part in the Aus Liebe .... aria. But when Augér performed it for the first time (probably 1976) and sang the last line .... sons hat mein Jesus nichts getan he got a lump in his throat and was barely able to start the solo.
After that experience, he stopped listening to it, because he feared that one time he wouldn't be able to prelude, and just waited for Harnoncourt to give the sign.

Antoine Marchand

Quote from: Marc on June 12, 2011, 03:19:44 AM
AFAIK, she lived in the Netherlands since the seventies (Amsterdam, later Barneveld) and was a regular appearance in Het Gebouw ('The Building'), as the Amsterdam people call the Concertgebouw. I first heard her on Palm Sunday 1979 (SMP/Harnoncourt) and fell in love with her voice immediately.

In a book about the Amsterdam SMP tradition, there's this nice story from flutist Paul Verhey. He was used to listen thoroughly to the arioso Er hat uns allen wohlgetan to come into the right spirit for his flute part in the Aus Liebe .... aria. But when Augér performed it for the first time (probably 1976) and sang the last line .... sons hat mein Jesus nichts getan he got a lump in his throat and was barely able to start the solo.
After that experience, he stopped listening to it, because he feared that one time he wouldn't be able to prelude, and just waited for Harnoncourt to give the sign.

Not tears, but something similar... It's a nice story, thanks for sharing.

Coopmv

Quote from: Marc on June 12, 2011, 03:19:44 AM
AFAIK, she lived in the Netherlands since the seventies (Amsterdam, later Barneveld) and was a regular appearance in Het Gebouw ('The Building'), as the Amsterdam people call the Concertgebouw. I first heard her on Palm Sunday 1979 (SMP/Harnoncourt) and fell in love with her voice immediately.

In a book about the Amsterdam SMP tradition, there's this nice story from flutist Paul Verhey. He was used to listen thoroughly to the arioso Er hat uns allen wohlgetan to come into the right spirit for his flute part in the Aus Liebe .... aria. But when Augér performed it for the first time (probably 1976) and sang the last line .... sons hat mein Jesus nichts getan he got a lump in his throat and was barely able to start the solo.
After that experience, he stopped listening to it, because he feared that one time he wouldn't be able to prelude, and just waited for Harnoncourt to give the sign.

Speaking of the steep tradition the RCO has for SMP, I have the following version of SMP by Mengelberg ...

     :)

Marc

#291
Quote from: Antonio Marchand on June 12, 2011, 06:58:39 AM
Not tears, but something similar... It's a nice story, thanks for sharing.

Well, I looked it up .... and there were some tears, too. :'(

Here's the story, translated in a more or less acceptable way ;):

For my first Matthäus under the direction of Harnoncourt, I was terribly nervous. I had already played Blute Nur in the second chorus once, but never Aus Liebe. Until then the flute solo was played very loud. I remember that I had to put up Hubert Barwasher's desk, because the instrumental solos were played with the instrumentalist standing, too.
The solo of Aus Liebe comes at a significant moment. Before and afterwards there are, as the two beams of the cross, two choruses of both orchestras. The aria comes at the center. In the build-up of the passion that aria has a function of reflection: Why did this happen?
Aus Liebe is the answer. There is no accompaniment from the bass, only two oboi da caccia, as a heartbeat. This was how Harnoncourt did put it, too. The soprano and the flute are floating from the earth. He wanted it to be played soft and intimate.
There is a recitative before the aria, also accompanied by only two oboi da caccia, ending with ".... sonst hat mein Jesus nichts getan." Arleen Auger sang it so incredibly beautiful that I got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, so I could hardly play. From that moment on I never listened to it again, fearing that I would not be able to prelude.

Source:
De Matthäus-Passion: 100 jaar passietraditie van het Koninklijk Concertgebouw Orkest. Bussum, NL, 1999.

Opus106

Thanks for sharing that with us, Marc. (And for providing source... I was about to enquire on the title as well :)).
Regards,
Navneeth

Marc

#293
Quote from: Opus106 on June 13, 2011, 08:16:40 AM
Thanks for sharing that with us, Marc. (And for providing source... I was about to enquire on the title as well :)).

It's only in Dutch, and OOP since long.

For those who are nevertheless interested: there are some 2nd hand chances. Like this one:

http://www.antiqbook.nl/boox/vrije/012726.shtml

The CD offers some highlights during the years (including the 'broken voice' Aus Liebe by Augér from 1985). This particular site also gives the price in dollars, so maybe it's possible to order from outside NL/Europe.

Leo K.

Quote from: DarkAngel on June 05, 2010, 12:39:42 PM

Music Web (not surprising) has posted a very positive review for Kuijken OVPP version, I was not really impressed and sold my version.......

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/June10/Bach_Matthew_CC72357.htm

I was much more impressed with Dunedin/Linn version also a OVPP style performance but with more passion and drama, beautiful recording....comes close to fullfilling the phrase "less is more"



Wow, I'm just blown away with the Dunedin/Butt account! My favorite SMP is the McCreesh, but now the Butt sits right beside it.  ;)

Eventually I want to try every OVPP recording out there.

8)

Leo K.

It's been awhile since I heard the McCreesh, but I just finished another listen, and again, was impressed with the performance and recording. Will compare with John Butt's acount, perhaps today.

8)

Marc

Quote from: Marc on June 12, 2011, 03:19:44 AM
AFAIK, [Arleen Augér] lived in the Netherlands since the seventies (Amsterdam, later Barneveld) and was a regular appearance in Het Gebouw ('The Building'), as the Amsterdam people call the Concertgebouw. I first heard her on Palm Sunday 1979 (SMP/Harnoncourt) and fell in love with her voice immediately.

In a book about the Amsterdam SMP tradition, there's this nice story from flutist Paul Verhey. He was used to listen thoroughly to the arioso Er hat uns allen wohlgetan to come into the right spirit for his flute part in the Aus Liebe .... aria. But when Augér performed it for the first time (probably 1976) and sang the last line .... sons hat mein Jesus nichts getan he got a lump in his throat and was barely able to start the solo.
After that experience, he stopped listening to it, because he feared that one time he wouldn't be able to prelude, and just waited for Harnoncourt to give the sign.

Palm Sunday 1985, March 31st, Concertgebouw:

http://www.mediafire.com/?qp15gla440t92b3

Coopmv

Quote from: Marc on January 22, 2012, 07:32:05 AM
Palm Sunday 1985, March 31st, Concertgebouw:

http://www.mediafire.com/?qp15gla440t92b3

IIRC,  Harnoncourt recorded the SMP with RCO and Arleen Augér.  That recording must be OOP now ...

Marc

Quote from: Coopmv on January 22, 2012, 08:47:43 AM
IIRC,  Harnoncourt recorded the SMP with RCO and Arleen Augér.  That recording must be OOP now ...

Coop, just lift up your head for this post ;):

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,4877.msg525017.html#msg525017

Coopmv

Quote from: Marc on January 22, 2012, 08:54:40 AM
Coop, just lift up your head for this post ;):

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,4877.msg525017.html#msg525017

I saw this recording on Amazon US many moons ago but really have not been actively looking for it since I already have another HIP Harnoncourt version in my collection ...