Bach: St. Matthew Passion.(Sound Recording Review)

[] York, Gooding, Kozena, Bickley; Padmore, Gilchrist, Harvey, Loges; Gabrieli Players, McCreesh. Text and translation. DG Archly 4742002 (2)

Few musical concepts have been so championed and ridiculed by scholars and performers alike as the notion of presenting the so-called "choral" works of J. S. Bach with one singer to a part. Although the idea first surfaced more than twenty years ago, until now no one had recorded a single-voice version of the Saint Matthew Passion. But leave it to the always-thoughtful Paul McCreesh (who says he loves Bach whether sung by a choir of 300 or played by a quartet of saxophones) to shine a clear light on this monumental composition, often overloaded with emotional grandeur and beloved choral traditions, and to reveal its essence.

Listeners who doubt that eight singers (the work calls for double "choir") can properly convey the frenzy of the mob calling for Christ's crucifixion or the mocking of the spectators who taunt him to come down from the cross will be surprised by the emotional power a handful of soloists can generate. They are as convincing in the intimate polyphony of the wondering, worried disciples as in the fervency of the chordal, congregational chorales. The massive opening tutti movement, "Kommt, ihr Tochter, helft mir klagen" (Come, you daughters, help me to grieve), becomes highly personalized by the quality of individual voices--the tremulous and anticipatory color of "Klagen" (to grieve) and the vocal and emotional reality in the word "mir" (me). It is a wondrous revelation.

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