Friday night’s performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion under the baton of Reinhard Goebel, was a glorious celebration of the outstanding choral tradition that is so alive across the generations in this eastern region of the Netherlands, from the hugely talented youth voices of the Stadsjongenskoor Oldenzaal to the profound and majestic professional sound of Consensus Vocalis. There is a real affinity with the music of Bach here in a city so close to the German border; like returning to an old friend year after year.
This was sprightly performance. Part One was over in the blink of an eye. Goebel created a kaleidoscope of colour with the violins in particular evoking the shades of light and dark found in both the biblical and the contemporary poetic text of the Leipzig poet, Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrich).
The Choir
Consensus Vocalis deserve much of the credit, alternating seamlessly between the role of participant and witnesses. They are a choir of the highest quality, exuding great sensitivity and an enormous range of mood and sentiment. Ends of phrases in Erkenne mich provided wonderful moments of plaintive reflection. How they revelled in the consonants of Sind Blitze, sind Donner depicting lightning and thunder disappearing into the clouds, and the contrapuntal lines in Laß ihn kreuzigen – Let him be crucified!
The Orchestra
Phion Orchestra too, were on fine form. Stylish violin playing and a real attention to detail were the order of the day in the creation of an effortless and most attractive opaque sound. Sparkling scales and trills in Gebt mir meinem Jesum left the audience on the edge of their seat. Sometimes, it is just best to let musicians do what they do best and just play the music, and to his credit, Goebel understood this.
Joined by the two flutes in Er hat uns allen wohlgetan and Aus Liebe, the two cors anglais took the lead, displaying a fluidity of tone in seemingly never-ending phrases full of detail and sensitive articulation. Wallowing in the sadness, they completely changed the mood in the auditorium and we all felt closer to the intense pain in the soprano’s text. Goebels simply conducted the final cadence with his head, and the woodwind earnt a well-deserved smile. Likewise, the final flourish from the viola da gamba in Komm, Süßes Kreuz, brought a smile to all.
The Soloists
And so to the singers. Raoul Steffani, cast as Jesus was mesmerising; the fear in his eyes felt real and gave the performance an unexpected intimacy. How those eyes talked! Fabulous diction was a recurring theme, so much so, that even if your German is not fluent, you would still have had a good understanding of the text. The alto, Cécile van de Sant’s fabulous rolling R’s echoed round the auditorium, grabbing unsuspecting audience members and holding their attention. Similarly, we almost felt the gust of wind in the Evangelist’s flohen as all the apostles fled the scene.
The opening of Part Two finds Jesus in front of the high priests only to face false lies and deceit. Unfortunately, the drama in the text became secondary in a performance which at times seemed a little rushed. This urgency continued in Geduld! Geduld! where the tenor and viola da gamba soloist both struggled to find time to create the required resonance in their respective parts, and ensemble suffered.
It was left to the formidable bass, Maarten Koningsberger, with his authoritative and commanding presence as the High Priest, ordering Jesus to tell the world if thou art Christ, the Son of God, to restore a sense of order. We had reached the most dramatic moment of the storyline; the chorus chanted Jesus is guilty of death! How the Evangelist, Falco van Loon, relished his moment! We could almost feel the rancour of the crowd spitting upon Jesus and striking him with their fists.
The Highlight
Before we knew it, we found ourselves at the number we had all been waiting for, arguably the most poignant moment in the whole work, the Erbarme dich. Van de Sant richly savoured those highly emotional words, and the audience loved it:
Have mercy, my God,
For the sake of my tears!
Look here, heart and eyes
weep bitterly before you
Have mercy, my God.
The decision to play the melodic appoggiaturas, more as an afterthought and almost clipped, however, was musically less successful. This falling figure, which creates a yearning dissonance depicting the pain and anguish in the text, and a technique so central to the harmonic language of Bach and his contemporaries, is found again in the final chorus, and here too the faster more clipped interpretation seemed at odds with the text where the gathered crowd sit around the tomb in tears, calling on Jesus to Rest softly…your exhausted limbs …Be a comfortable pillow and the soul’s resting place. The resting place did not seem very restful. This, along with the use of double bass in all the continuo writing resulted in a sometimes overly heavy and laboured bass line, marring the performance a little.
The evening finished with one of the most poignant moments of the night as four of the soloists took to the front of the stage for the only time. The fatal unfolding of the story was irreversible. Now the Lord is brought to rest… Good night! Christ’s death was confirmed and all we could do was sit at the tomb and pray. A noble and reflective way to start the Holy Week.
Reviewed at the Muziekcentrum, Enschede on Friday 31st March, 2023
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