Notable recordings of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
's ''
St Matthew Passion'' (''Matthäus-Passion'') are shown below in a sortable table.
History
The earliest recordings of the St Matthew Passion were released on
78 records, although this medium was problematic for such a long work, because the discs only offered about 5 minutes per side.
The first recording of the work was conducted by
David McKinley Williams with the choir of
St. Bartholomew's Church, New York in 1930, but it was not complete.
There is a
live recording
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
of
Serge Koussevitzky conducting a complete performance in Boston on
Good Friday 1937, sung in English. This has been reissued on CD.
Stereophonic recordings and spatial aspects of the work
While historic recordings give an opportunity to hear some of the great Bach singers of the past (such as
Kathleen Ferrier
Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE (22 April 19128 October 1953) was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the c ...
on the Jacques recording), the introduction of
stereophonic sound marked a clear improvement in the musical experience as regards the choral writing. For this complex work, the limited pool of musicians available to Bach in Leipzig was divided between two choirs and orchestras plus a chorus of boy sopranos in the first movement. Choirs 1 and II and the orchestras were physically separated,
and the dramatic nature of their interaction puts
mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese b ...
recordings at a disadvantage. In the case of the
Karl Münchinger
Karl Münchinger (29 May 1915 – 13 March 1990) was a German conductor of European classical music. He helped to revive the now-ubiquitous Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel, through recording it with his Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in 1960. (Jean ...
stereo recording from 1964, the engineers not only captured spatial aspects of the performance in the
Ludwigsburg Palace
Ludwigsburg Palace, nicknamed the "Versailles of Swabia", is a 452-room palace complex of 18 buildings located in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its total area, including the gardens, is the largest palatial estate in the country. T ...
, but also made a conscious effort to give a different acoustic to each of three elements of time identified in
Picander
Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), writing under the pen name Picander, was a German poet and librettist for many of the cantatas which Johann Sebastian Bach composed in Leipzig.
Henrici was born in Stolpen. He stud ...
's libretto, the time-frame being divided into
*the
Evangelist some years after the events took place
*the events of the
gospel narrative themselves
*the reflections of the anonymous soloists and the congregation.
[ (Notes by Ray Minshull, the producer for Decca). For an analysis of the structure of the libretto, see St Matthew Passion structure]
Historically informed performance
The work was first recorded by large choirs and orchestras. From the late 1960s,
historically informed performances (HIP) tried to adhere more to the sounds of the composer's lifetime. In his church music generally, and in this work in particular, Bach wrote for boys choirs and for comparatively small orchestras of
Baroque instruments
Musical instruments used in Baroque music were partly used already before, partly are still in use today, but with no technology. The movement to perform music in a historically informed way, trying to recreate the sound of the period, led to the ...
(nowadays these instruments, often referred to as "period instruments", are sometimes antiques and sometimes reconstructions).
Historically informed performances set a trend for recordings with smaller groups which is taken to an extreme in recordings using only
one voice per part. Some scholars believe that Bach used only one singer for a vocal part in the choral movements, although the number of singers Bach would have deployed continues to be the subject of debate.
Recordings with one voice per part are marked OVPP in this discography. On some of these recordings, the solo singer is reinforced in choral movements with a larger orchestra by a
ripieno The ripieno (, Italian for "stuffing" or "padding") is the bulk of instrumental parts of a musical ensemble who do not play as soloists, especially in Baroque music. These are the players who would play in sections marked ''tutti'', as opposed to s ...
singer (OVPP+R).
Significant recordings
The selection is taken from the 281 recordings listed on the Bach Cantatas Website as of 2021, beginning with a recording from 1939 by a symphony orchestra and choir to match (
the performance conducted by
Willem Mengelberg
Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest s ...
). In 1970 the
first HIP recording appeared, conducted by
Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The
first OVPP recording appeared in 2003, conducted by
Paul McCreesh
Paul McCreesh (born 24 May 1960) is an English conductor.
Paul McCreesh is the founder and artistic director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players. With them he has performed in major concert halls and festivals across the world. He has been the ...
.
Table of recordings
The sortable listing is taken mostly from the selection provided by Aryeh Oron on the Bach Cantatas Website.
The information lists for one recording typically:
* Conductor / choir / orchestra, often several choirs
* Soloists in the order
Evangelist (
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
),
Vox Christi
Vox (Latin for 'voice') may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
* Vox (DC Universe character), Mal Duncan
* Vox, several characters in the anime series '' Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne''
* Gleeman Vox, from the ''Ratch ...
(Voice of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
,
bass),
soprano,
alto, tenor (if the tenor arias are performed by a different tenor than the evangelist), bass. and some conductors use different soloists in combination with each choir.
* Label
* Year of the recording
* Choir type
*# Large choirs (red background): Bach (choir dedicated to Bach's music, founded in the mid of the 20th century), Boys (choir of all male voices), Radio (choir of a broadcaster), Symphony (choir related to a symphony orchestra)
*# Medium-size choirs, such as Chamber choir, Chorale (choir dedicated mostly to church music), Madrigal
*# One voice per part (green background): OVPP or OVPP+R (with ripienists reinforcing the soloists in some chorale movements)
* Orch. type (orchestra type)
*# Large orchestras (red background): Large (unspecified), Bach (orchestra dedicated to Bach's music, founded in the mid of the 20th century), Radio (symphony orchestra of a broadcaster), Opera, Symphony
*#
Chamber orchestra
*# Orchestra on period instruments (green background)
* Notes
References
External links
*
*
Libretto with English translationSan Francisco Bach Choir
Commentary, musical examples, list of recordings on the Bach Cantatas Website
Side-by-side arrangement of the original text and an English translationMinnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest.
MPR ha ...
{{Passion settings by Johann Sebastian Bach
Discographies of compositions by J. S. Bach