JS Bach - St Matthew Passion
£26.55
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Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMM90269193
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 3
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 18th March 2022
Contents
Artists
Julian Pregardien (tenor)Stephane Degout (bass)
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano)
Lucile Richardot (alto)
Reinoud van Mechelen (tenor)
Hana Blazikova (soprano)
Tim Mead (countertenor)
Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenor)
Christian Immler (bass)
Maitrise de Radio France
Pygmalion
Conductor
Raphael PichonWorks
St Matthew Passion, BWV244Artists
Julian Pregardien (tenor)Stephane Degout (bass)
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano)
Lucile Richardot (alto)
Reinoud van Mechelen (tenor)
Hana Blazikova (soprano)
Tim Mead (countertenor)
Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenor)
Christian Immler (bass)
Maitrise de Radio France
Pygmalion
Conductor
Raphael PichonAbout
This Matthäus Passion marks a major stage in this fifteen-year companionship and testifies to the culmination of their work on Bach, characterised by its precision and humility.
Read through the prism of a tragedy in five acts, at once intimate and theatrical, human and metaphysical, the Passion is revealed here in a new light: as a deeply moving epic exploring the very heart of Lutheran spirituality.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Prima parte - Nr.1. Chorus I & II Kommt, ihr Tochter, helft mir klagen
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2Prima parte - Nr.2. Da Jesus diese Rede vollendet hatte (Evangelista, Jesus)
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3Prima parte - Nr.3. Choral Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen
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4Prima parte - Nr.4. Da versammleten sich die Hohenpriester (Evangelista)
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5Prima parte - Nr.5. Recitativo Du lieber Heiland du
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6Prima parte - Nr.6. Aria Buß und Reu
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7Prima parte - Nr.7. Da ging hin der Zwölfen einer (Evangelista, Judas)
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8Prima parte - Nr.8. Aria Blute nur, du liebes Herz
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9Prima parte - Nr.9. Aber am ersten Tag der süßen Brot (Evangelista)
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10Prima parte - Nr.10. Choral Ich bin's, ich sollte büßen
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11Prima parte - Nr.11. Er antwortete und sprach (Evangelista, Jesus, Judas)
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12Prima parte - Nr.12. Recitativo Wiewohl mein Herz in Tränen schwimmt
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13Prima parte - Nr.13. Aria Ich will dir mein Herze schenken
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14Prima parte - Nr.14. Und da sie den Lobgesang gesprochen hatten (Evangelista, Jesus)
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15Prima parte - Nr.15. Choral Erkenne mich, mein Hüter
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16Prima parte - Nr.16. Petrus aber antwortete (Evangelista, Petrus, Jesus)
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17Prima parte - Nr.17. Choral Ich will hier bei dir stehen
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18Prima parte - Nr.18. Da kam Jesus mit ihnen zu einem Hofe (Evangelista, Jesus)
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19Prima parte - Nr.19. Recitativo a doi Cori O Schmerz! hier zittert das gequälte Herz
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20Prima parte - Nr.20. Aria a doi Cori Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen
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21Prima parte - Nr.21. Und ging hin ein wenig (Evangelista, Jesus)
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22Prima parte - Nr.22. Recitativo Der Heiland fällt vor seinem Vater nieder
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23Prima parte - Nr.23. Aria Gerne will ich mich bequemen
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24Prima parte - Nr.24. Und er kam zu seinen Jüngern (Evangelista, Jesus)
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25Prima parte - Nr.25. Choral Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh' allzeit
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26Prima parte - Nr.26. Und er kam und fand sie aber schlafend (Evangelista, Jesus, Judas)
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27Prima parte - Nr.27. Aria a doi Cori So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen
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28Prima parte - Nr.28. Und siehe, einer aus denen (Evangelista, Jesus)
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29Prima parte - Nr.29. Choral O Mensch, bewein' dein Sünde groß
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30Seconda parte - Nr.30. Aria Ach! nun ist mein Jesus hin
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31Seconda parte - Nr.31. Die aber Jesum gegriffen hatten (Evangelista)
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32Seconda parte - Nr.32. Choral Mir hat die Welt trüglich gericht'
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33Seconda parte - Nr.33. Und wiewohl viel falsche Zeugen herzutraten (Evangelista, Testis I & II, Pontifex)
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34Seconda parte - Nr.34. Recitativo Mein Jesus schweigt zu falschen Lügen stille
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35Seconda parte - Nr.35. Aria Geduld, Geduld!
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36Seconda parte - Nr.36. Und der Hohepriester antwortete (Evangelista, Pontifex, Jesus)
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37Seconda parte - Nr.37. Choral Wer hat dich so geschlagen
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38Seconda parte - Nr.38. Petrus aber saß draußen im Palast (Evangelista, Ancilla I & II, Petrus)
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39Seconda parte - Nr.39. Aria Erbarme dich
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40Seconda parte - Nr.40. Choral Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen
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41Seconda parte - Nr.41. Des Morgens aber hielten alle Hohenpriester (Evangelista, Judas)
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42Seconda parte - Nr.42. Aria Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder
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43Seconda parte - Nr.43. Sie hielten aber einen Rat (Evangelista, Pilatus, Jesus)
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44Seconda parte - Nr.44. Choral Befiehl du deine Wege
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45Seconda parte - Nr.45. Auf das Fest aber hatte der Landpfleger (Evangelista, Pilatus, Uxor Pilatus, Chorus I & II
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46Seconda parte - Nr.46. Choral Wie wunderbarlich ist doch diese Strafe
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47Seconda parte - Nr.47. Der Landpfleger sagte (Evangelista, Pilatus)
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48Seconda parte - Nr.48. Recitativo Er hat uns allen wohlgetan
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49Seconda parte - Nr.49. Aria Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben
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50Seconda parte - Nr.50. Sie schrieen aber noch mehr (Evangelista)
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51Seconda parte - Nr.51. Recitativo Erbarm es Gott
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52Seconda parte - Nr.52. Aria Können Tränen meiner Wangen
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53Seconda parte - Nr.53. Da nahmen die Kriegsknechte (Evangelista)
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54Seconda parte - Nr.54. Choral O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
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55Seconda parte - Nr.55. Und da sie ihn verspottet hatten (Evangelista)
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56Seconda parte - Nr.56. Recitativo Ja! freilich will in uns das Fleisch und Blut
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57Seconda parte - Nr.57. Aria Komm, süßes Kreuz
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58Seconda parte - Nr.58. Und da sie an die Stätte kamen (Evangelista)
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59Seconda parte - Nr.59. Recitativo Ach, Golgatha, unsel'ges Golgatha
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60Seconda parte - Nr.60. Aria Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand
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61Seconda parte - Nr.61. Und von der sechsten Stunde (Evangelista, Jesus)
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62Seconda parte - Nr.62. Choral Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden
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63Seconda parte - Nr.63. Und siehe da, der Vorhang im Tempel zerriß (Evangelista)
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64Seconda parte - Nr.64. Recitativo Am Abend da es kühle war
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65Seconda parte - Nr.65. Aria Mache dich, mein Herze, rein
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66Seconda parte - Nr.66. Und Joseph nahm den Leib (Evangelista)
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67Seconda parte - Nr.67. Recitativo Nun ist der Herr zur Ruh gebracht
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68Seconda parte - Nr.68. Chorus I & II Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder
Europadisc Review
Now they tackle one of the pinnacles of Baroque music – and indeed of the whole choral repertoire – with Bach’s St Matthew Passion. It’s a work they carefully prepared for over a period of ten years, along the way cutting their teeth on the B minor Mass and St John Passion among others, before first performing it in 2016. A further five years of experience passed before they were ready to record it. And it’s been worth the wait: this is one of the most deeply-considered yet life-enhancing performances of the St Matthew that there’s been on disc for many years.
It helps that most of the performers are by now perfectly attuned to Pichon’s direction and, vice versa, that Pichon knows exactly what he can achieve with his singers and players. And then there are the soloists: not every recording featuring ‘big names’ succeeds in creating a truly unified ‘team’ achievement, as several recordings of yesteryear unhappily prove. This one bucks the trend. With sopranos Sabine Devieilhe and Hana Blažíková and mezzo Lucile Richardot leading the line-up, tenor Julian Prégardien as a supremely sensitive Evangelist, and baritone Stéphane Degout as a marvellously expressive, grainy yet profoundly spiritual Christus, this is the sort of cast one dreams of but which rarely comes together. And they all (with the understandable exception of Prégardien) take part in the choruses as well, as Bach would have expected.
Right from the outset, in the surely paced opening chorus – no rush-to-the-Cross, but with enough momentum to suggest an underlying, dance-like momentum – the strengths of Pichon’s approach are evident: careful shaping of lines, a fine sense of balance and proportion, care over dynamics and articulation, and judicious employment of rhetorical gestures, like the way he approaches and places the chorus’s closing E major chord (‘at once red with the blood to be shed and ripe with the promise of resurrection’). And then we are into the drama of the unfolding narrative. The St Matthew Passion is a very different beast from the slightly earlier, more theatrically gripping St John, yet Pichon’s approach is by no means short on drama – the ‘crowd’ choruses are thrilling, often blood-curdling, without being over-driven. And the progress from number to number is obviously carefully considered. This is a reading that holds the narrative and reflective, the dramatic and meditative aspects in ideal balance.
The antiphonal spacing of the two choirs and orchestras is palpable without the separation feeling (as it does on some rival recordings) contrived, the choir slightly recessed compared with the orchestra, but with the well-focussed soloists singing from ‘within’ the orchestra. And the ripieno soprano chorale line of Part 1’s opening and closing choruses rings out bell-like from the members of the Maîtrise de Radio France.
Prégardien, as we’ve already suggested, is a superb Evangelist. His diction throughout is excellent, and he comes across as a ‘reliable witness’: sufficiently involved and expressive to bring home the immediacy of the narrative, yet sufficiently detached (or rather, poised) to be credible. The role’s extreme demands prove no hurdles in terms of tessitura or stamina; the range of dynamics he deploys in his Part 2 recitative just before Jesus’s cry of ‘Eli, Eli, lama, lama asabthami?’ is just one magnificent moment among many. His mounting involvement as the Crucifixion looms is thrilling to experience, yet there is no loss of focus in his singing.
Similarly, Degout’s Christus is one of the finest now on disc, a gently commanding presence in all he sings, his admonishments as authoritative as his enigmatic replies to Pilatus are suggestive. The advantages of him singing the bass solos in the latter stages of Part 2 are many, not least the spellbinding recitative ‘Am Abend, da es kühle war’ with its magically susurrating strings, and the glorious, lilting aria ‘Mache dich, mein Herze, rein’, its keen momentum and otherworldly feel creating the undoubted expressive highpoint of this performance.
The women are a classy group, Blažíková wonderfully light in ‘Blute nur, du liebes Herz’, Richardot bright-toned yet boyish, with a rich, incisive lower range, expertly shaping the long phrases in, for example, the meltingly beautiful ‘Erbarme dich’ (with Sophie Gent’s exquisite solo violin). Devieilhe, on whose recent acclaimed Erato disc of Bach and Handel she was accompanied by Pichon and Pygmalion, now returns the favour, and then some. ‘Ich will dir mein Herze schenken’ is winningly animated and articulate, while ‘Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben’ in Part 2 – with its devastating accompaniment of solo flute and pair of oboes da caccia, arguably the emotional heart of the entire work – has rarely if ever sounded so touchingly delicate yet radiant.
The other male singers are impressive too, tenor Reinoud van Mechelen rather earthier than his choir 2 counterpart Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro, who is admirably expressive in the demanding ‘Geduld, Geduld!’. Countertenor Tim Mead brings a dusky but focussed tone to ‘Können Tränen meiner Wangen’ and its preceding recitative, while bass-baritone Christian Immler makes his mark not just in his two arias, ‘Gerne will ich mich bequemen’ and ‘Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder’, but as an imposing yet anguished and very human Pilatus.
There are a number of imaginative touches – to ornamentation, dynamics and scoring – that may raise a few eyebrows among purists, but which we find utterly convincing. The last occurrence of the ‘Passion’ chorale – ‘Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden’, just after Christ’s death – is sung completely a cappella: in context, and when sung with such carefully shaped intensity, it’s a bold move that pays off completely. The continuo group includes organ, harpsichord and theorbo, variously deployed throughout, and evidently carefully considered at every turn, even down to whether or not they fill in the (major or minor) third of final chords.
Handsomely presented, the accompanying booklet includes a revealing and unusually insightful interview with Pichon and Prégardien, which offers much food for thought regarding the work’s dimensions (spatial and temporal) as well as its intellectual, spiritual and expressive scope and achievement. The recording is similarly immersive, in the best possible sense, and this is an account of the St Matthew Passion that is likely to stand the test of time and should earn a favoured place among seasoned collectors and newcomers alike. Life-enhancing indeed!
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