Two excellent Passions in Bach's modernist temple

If we look up before entering the Palau de la Música Catalana, through its old main door, it is likely that we will see Johann Sebastian Bach.

The bust of the German Baroque composer, made by the sculptor Eusebi Arnau, presides over the second floor of the façade on a column, between Palestrina and Beethoven.

A detail that reflects the relationship of this beautiful modernist building, designed as the headquarters of the Orfeó Català by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, with the music of Bach.

Not by chance, the first thing heard in its auditorium was the organ from the

, in February 1908. A few days later, the Orfeó Català performed the

and, three years later, the first hearing of the

.

But the main Bachian event at the Palau came in 1921, with the premiere in Spain of the

.

On that occasion, the organist Albert Schweitzer participated, bringing a tenor and two oboists from Berlin.

He even advised the director of the Catalan choir, Lluís Millet, in incorporating a hundred children's voices into his choir of more than two hundred mixed voices.

Another solemn and massive reading of that

by Bach was heard, in 1958, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the building, of which there is a phonographic testimony.

The

has returned many times to this Bachian temple, which has ideal acoustics for this music.

Two years ago, it was even possible to commemorate the centenary of its premiere, in the midst of the rigors of the pandemic, with the Orfeó Català and two oboe soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic.

But these days prior to a completely normal Holy Week has returned accompanied by the

.

Two concerts, on March 30 and 31, starring two specialized ensembles, such as Vox Luminis and Collegium Vocale Gent, and to a certain extent connected.

Bach wrote “five passions, among which are one to two choruses”, according to his son Carl Philip Emmanuel and his disciple Agricola, in the 1754 obituary note. Bach probably wrote his first passion, in 1717, for the court of Gotha that we have lost.

The earliest preserved is the

, which he premiered, during his first Good Friday as Cantor in Leipzig, in 1724. Of the other three, the reference to two choirs corresponds to the

, from 1727. If he wrote a passion based on the Gospel of Luke, it has also been lost (the copy copied and retouched by Bach, in 1730, is not his own) and that of Saint Mark, from 1731, can be partially reconstructed , since we keep the libretto and most of its music was reused by Bach from previous compositions.

Various sources transmit different versions of the two preserved passions, as Bach programmed and revised them on multiple occasions up to 1750. For the

, from last Thursday, the director of Vox Luminis, the French bass Lionel Meunier (Clamecy, 41 years ), he opted for the 1736 revision, which is the most common and is known to us from an autograph of the composer.

We were able to verify this by the presence of a children's choir, in the choral number that opens the work, and also in the choral fantasy

(Oh, man, cry your great sin) that closes the first part, and that Bach added in his review.

Precisely, neither of the two were relevant moments.

Meunier chose to conduct with minimal gestures, as always, from his usual position as bass within the choir.

She made the exception of marking the children's choir, 22 excellent girls and boys from the Cor Infantil del'Orfeó Català.

But Bach's monumentality in his revision, where he strengthens the double choir and double orchestra, may need more definite guidance, apart from the ensemble's level of excellence.

Daniel R. Melamed recalls, in Hearing Bach's Passions, that the composer used to conduct from the organ or from the first violin, and he never stood in front of the ensemble on a podium.

But he admits that he may have made an exception to direct this play.

The rest of Meunier's decisions were ideal.

Both the idea of ​​having two choirs with 12 voices, and three singers per part, as well as extracting the eight soloists from its members.

As Melamed clarifies, the study of the preserved handwritten

makes it possible to distinguish, within Bach's choir, between "concertists" (soloists) and "ripienistas" (fill-in voices), so the fashion of reducing the two choirs in this work to the eight soloists may not be so successful.

For the rest, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra was divided into two groups of 17 instrumentalists with two concertmasters and the winds ahead of the strings, as was done at the time.

But the most interesting thing about Meunier's interpretation was the fluidity that the three layers of the work acquired.

I mean the combination of the narration of the passion of Christ, the devout responses in the form of solo interventions of recitatives with arias, and the choral hymns that represent the congregation.

The tenor Raphael Höhn was an excellent evangelist, with an attractive, confident and clear intonation, although he was too austere in the most intense and theatrical moments.

That austerity was, on the contrary, ideal in the refined and natural Jesus, by bass Sebastian Myrus, who also sang as a soloist.

In the recitatives and devotional arias, the duel between the two altos stood out, starring the countertenors Alexander Chance and William Shelton.

The former brilliantly confronted the paternal model (he is the son of Michael Chance) and turned the famous aria

(Have mercy on me, my God) into one of the most emotional moments of the evening, to which was added the magnificent violin solo by Petra Müllejans.

Shelton's incisive and contemplative voice stood out, in turn, in

(If the tears on my cheeks are powerless).

The soprano Zsuzsi Tóth gave her first aria to Viola Blache and she sang much better together with Chance, in

(This is how my Jesus is taken prisoner), than in the beautiful

(For Love).

Among the tenors, Raffaele Giordani stood out, accompanied by the virtuoso viola da gamba of Hille Perl, in

(Patience, patience!).

And also underline the ductility of the bass Felix Schwandtke, in

(Give me back my Jesus!), together with Peter Barczi's imposing violin solo.

Finally, the chorales were a distinctive element in Meunier's interpretation.

The French bass knows how to promote them from within Vox Luminis.

And, one after the other, they elevated the flow of the work spiritually, intertwining admirably with the other two layers of gospel narrative and lyrical outpourings.

Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Collegium Vocale Gent, at the Palau de la Música Catalana, in December 2022.A BOFILL

It should be remembered that Meunier was a disciple of the bass soloist of the Collegium Vocale Gent, Peter Kooij, and his records with Philippe Herreweghe of Bach's cantatas and passions encouraged him to dedicate himself to early music.

This makes it possible to connect both concerts and delve into both their points in common and their divergences.

To begin with, Herreweghe (Ghent, 75 years old) conducts in front of his group of voices and instruments, unlike Meunier.

This made it easier for the tension to invade the beginning of the

, last Friday, with an impressive initial chorus

(Lord, our owner, whose glory).

The director of the Collegium Vocale Gent was also right with his version of the work, opting for the usual combination of the four known variants (1724, 1725, 1732 and 1749).

In his case, he has recorded the work on three occasions, he does it out of personal conviction, after choosing for his second recording the 1725 version, where Bach suppressed precisely the aforementioned initial chorus.

For the rest, he shares the same idea with Meunier of having a magnificent vocal ensemble, in his case with 16 voices with four singers per part, from which he extracts the four soloists, in the recitatives and arias, like most of the characters. of the gospel narrative.

However, in Herreweghe the three layers of passion are much more separated than in Meunier.

For example, in the narrative of the passion he opts for more theatrical voices.

The tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen was an excellent evangelist with a rich and varied vocal range that allowed him, for example, to underline the natural catastrophe that followed the death of Jesus and that Bach took here from the Gospel of Matthew.

Bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac was a much more imposing and less austere Jesus.

In fact, Herreweghe put gravity even in his refusal for the public to applaud between the two parties, as he continued without rest and after a very brief pause.

Among its four soloists, a countertenor once again stood out as a contralto.

Alex Potter needed to find the spirit, in

(To free myself from the bonds of my sins).

Then he brought out his verve and musicality in a marvelous

(It has been consummated!), which was accompanied with simplicity by the viola gambia player Romina Lischka.

Soprano Dorothee Mields' luster rose to the poignant in

(My Heart, While the Whole World).

And the historic bass player Peter Kooij maintains a clear and fluid voice, which he displayed in

(Make haste, troubled souls).

Herreweghe ensured an exquisite version of the work and tried to penetrate each issue separately.

The most evident proof we had at the end.

The audience applauded, after his beautiful and contemplative interpretation of the choir

(Rest, sacred remains), but the choir

(Ah, Lord, let your beloved cherubs) close the choir. construction site.

After the Passion, the Belgian conductor greeted almost one by one all the members of the Collegium Vocale Gent, where we listened to luxurious instrumentalists such as the violinist Christine Busch, the flutist Patrick Beuckels and the oboist Taka Kitazato.

The Bach party at the Palau de la Música Catalana will continue in ten days with John Eliot Gardiner.

The English conductor will celebrate his 80th birthday by conducting the

to the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Solists.

Palace of Music of Barcelona.

Season 2022-23

Passion according to Saint Matthew, directed by Lionel Meunier and Passion according to Saint John, directed by Philippe Herreweghe.

Palau de la Música in Barcelona, ​​March 30 and 31, respectively.

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