Tír Na HiFi

Listening tonight to a recent purchase of mine, Benoit Haller's extraordinary version of Bach's St. John Passion (recorded with his La Chapelle Rhenane ensemble and available on Zig Zag). My personal benchmark recordings for this masterpiece are the evergreen versions by Gardiner (DG Archiv) and Suzuki (BIS). On the basis of tonight's listening, this is easily as good as these classic readings. Right from the opening bars, there is an amazing feeling of spiritual intensity which is maintained throughout the complete recording. It is a draining, emotionally overwhelming experience, which a really great version of this penitential rite of a Passion ought to be given its subject matter.

Schumann – Piano Concerto played by Friedrich Gulda, VPO/Andreae

mcq wrote:Listening tonight to a recent purchase of mine, Benoit Haller's extraordinary version of Bach's St. John Passion (recorded with his La Chapelle Rhenane ensemble and available on Zig Zag). My personal benchmark recordings for this masterpiece are the evergreen versions by Gardiner (DG Archiv) and Suzuki (BIS). On the basis of tonight's listening, this is easily as good as these classic readings. Right from the opening bars, there is an amazing feeling of spiritual intensity which is maintained throughout the complete recording. It is a draining, emotionally overwhelming experience, which a really great version of this penitential rite of a Passion ought to be given its subject matter.

I read a very enthusiastic review of that recording in this month's Gramophone yesterday! Interestingly it uses Bach's second, 1725 version (mainly) rather than the usual one. The Evangelist is Julian Prégardien, Christoph Prégardien's son. I'm thinking of adding it to the too many John Passions I have already as it seems to be a good version and uses very small forces (is it one to a part, mcq?)!

DaveF wrote:

Did you like that, Dave? It's currently in my shopping basket, waiting to be purchased!

Grieg – Holberg Suite played by the BPO/Karajan....

Elgar – String Quartet in A minor played by the Maggini String Quartet....




....wonderful and exciting music!!

Ciaran wrote:

mcq wrote:Listening tonight to a recent purchase of mine, Benoit Haller's extraordinary version of Bach's St. John Passion (recorded with his La Chapelle Rhenane ensemble and available on Zig Zag). My personal benchmark recordings for this masterpiece are the evergreen versions by Gardiner (DG Archiv) and Suzuki (BIS). On the basis of tonight's listening, this is easily as good as these classic readings. Right from the opening bars, there is an amazing feeling of spiritual intensity which is maintained throughout the complete recording. It is a draining, emotionally overwhelming experience, which a really great version of this penitential rite of a Passion ought to be given its subject matter.

I read a very enthusiastic review of that recording in this month's Gramophone yesterday! Interestingly it uses Bach's second, 1725 version (mainly) rather than the usual one. The Evangelist is Julian Prégardien, Christoph Prégardien's son. I'm thinking of adding it to the too many John Passions I have already as it seems to be a good version and uses very small forces (is it one to a part, mcq?)!

I could be mistaken, Ciaran, but I don't believe it is a one-voice-to-a-part performance (I'll have to check the CD booklet notes to be sure). It is, however, an intimate, chamber-sized performance with minimal forces. Tempos vary: whilst they are usually on the swift side, Haller can adopt a more spacious tempo when the occasion demands it. Overall, it's probably closest to Suzuki's reading in its stripped-down, minimalist presentation but there is a sense of Herreweghe's theatricality as well. Prégardien is an exceptional Evangelist but, really, there are no weak links in the performance. By the way, Benoit Haller's reading of Heinrich Schutz's wonderful Auferstehungshistorie amd Musikalische Exequien with the same forces (available on K617) sets a similarly high standard and also comes highly recommended.

Watching one of my favourite DVDs tonight, Hector Berlioz's masterpiece, La Damnation de Faust, in a fantastic (staged) performance from the 1999 Salzberg Festival (available on Arthaus Musik). Career-best performances from Paul Groves (a wide-eyed Faust), Willard White (a deeply devilish Mephistopheles) and Vesselina Kasarova as the innocent Marguerite. I really adore this work which combined some of Berlioz's finest orchestral and choral writing with the deeply poetic libretto from Gérard de Nerval. And Marguerite's arias are some of the greatest in the operatic repertoire, in my opinion.