When it comes to the big Baroque choral works you can count on Ton Koopman to deliver an extraordinarily fine show–indeed, his 1983 live recording of Handel’s Messiah for Erato remains one of that work’s exemplars–and in this concert performance from the Netherlands in March, 2005, he again brings together his Amsterdam Baroque forces for what turns out to be a very respectable, thoroughly engaging, often scintillating, and, considering all the musical and dramatic variables in a work of this size and structure, remarkably smooth and cohesive St. Matthew Passion. Tempos and transitions, so crucial to a performance’s success, are expertly managed, as the recitatives, arias, and choruses fairly zip along, never allowing us to even entertain an idle thought.
But this enlivening pace also has its dramatic drawbacks–as in the rather expressionless “Erbarme dich” (where is the sensation of sadness? where are the tears?) and in the disappointingly unmoving moment when Jesus “gives up his spirit”. Nevertheless, the bright and powerful moments are many–the solo singing is very fine (Koopman uses a female alto rather than countertenor), the chorus is glorious in the chorales, electrifying in the crowd scenes, and grand in the big opening and closing movements, and Koopman’s orchestra is typically polished and stylistically articulate.
At first I was bothered by the sound, which seemed way too close, everyone on top of each other, the chorus overpowering the orchestra, the orchestra overpowering the chorus; but after 10 minutes or so, these concerns vanished into the excitement of the performance–and you really do feel the live, vibrant energy of the occasion, which adds to the attractiveness of this set. This is an easy recommendation, a worthy addition to any collection, and one that will stand up to repeated hearings and careful comparisons.
