COMPOSERS: Bach
LABELS: Warner
ALBUM TITLE: Bach - Choral
WORKS: St Matthew Passion; St John Passion
PERFORMER: Choirs & Orchestra, Fritz Werner
CATALOGUE NO: 2564 614032
These 10 discs form the second
instalment from Fritz Werner,
champion of Bach on record from
1957 to 1972. Many of my earlier
comments (see January) hold good
– a single leap back over 30-40 years
exaggerates the impact of changed
attitudes to tempo, articulation and
instrumental/vocal sound quality.
Some of the earliest recordings creak
with age, notably the 1958 B minor
Mass in mono, its Gloria laboured,
the horn in ‘Quoniam’ like a Salvation
Army flugel on a cold night, and the
total up to half an hour longer than we
expect nowadays. Yet even here there
are delights – the beautifully matched
sopranos of Ingerborg Reichelt and
Elizabeth Fellner, and Helmut Krebs’s
fine tenor. He is Evangelist in the
Passions with a clear sense of their
dramatic impetus, helped by a wide
stereo ‘stage’ and by the Heinrich
Schütz Choir’s lively ‘crowd’ choruses.
Their chorales, too, are impressive
– stately but never sanctimonious.
Some pearls are timeless: in the
St John Passion, soprano Frederike
Sailer in ‘Ich folge...’; in the Christmas
Oratorio, bass Barry McDaniel
with Maurice André’s impeccable
trumpet in ‘Grosser Herr...’; Agnes
Giebel’s witty dialogue with echo
and oboe in ‘Flosst mein Heiland’.
The six motets fare particularly
well, with fresh choral lines and bass
etched with continuo support.
Discs are numbered differently
from their listing in the notes
and all texts need downloading
from the internet. Remastered
sound is commendable
considering some of its age.
These won Grands Prix du
Disque in their time. It is our taste
and technological expectations
which have changed, not the
performances. George Pratt