St. Matthew Passion last weekend/recently - to be broadcast Thursday 21st

[doversoul1]

I am very much looking forward to this. I don’t think I’ve heard Iestyn Davies in this work before.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01074fk

Do others remember last year’s broadcast of St Matthew? It was a strange occasion, as the response was very much like five stars vs. two stars. I blamed the recording.

[salymap]

St Matthew Passion at RFH last weekend/recently

A friend was telling me about a performance that was unusual. One of the soloists was taken ill, there was a long break in the performance. Someone else was to fill in but in the end the performance omitted certain arias/passages.

Were any MBs there?

[mercia]

http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3463:st-matthew-passion-the-bach-choir&Itemid=27

[salymap]

http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php...hoir&Itemid=27

Thanks mercia, my friend and family said there were some fairly long gaps in the performance but they sat it out and hope he will recover soon.

[doversoul1]

I think it is. Oh dear… I wonder how the broadcast is going to be like. But for now, if it’s all right with everyone (whoever that is) we’ll join salymap’s thread on this board to talk about this performance.

St Matthew Passion at RFH last weekend/recently

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Doversoul, in view of your request, I've merged the two threads.

[salymap]

Sorry, I'm a bit lost. The performance that my friend attended last w/e at the RFH isn't the one being broadcast is it? Perhaps, if so,it will be a patchwork quilt of a recording.

Yes it appears to be the same people, although there were other substitutions, apart from James Gilchrist becoming ill and being taken to hospital.

[amateur51]

Sorry, I'm a bit lost. The performance that my friend attended last w/e at the RFH isn't the one being broadcast is it? Perhaps, if so,it will be a patchwork quilt of a recording.

Maybe Roderick Williams does some busking on spoons?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Salymap, from your description and Mercia's link, it does appear to be one and the same. It will be interesting to hear what is broadcast on Thursday.

[Mahlerei]

for an alternative try Osvaldo Golijov's St Mark Passion. Very moving )and a knockout as well).

[Sydney Grew]

I think they have quite a nerve to call themselves the "Bach" choir. Bach's ideal was three voices to a part, all male. Nothing else will do, ever, by definition, so this performance was doomed before it began.

The spectacle of a largish group of respectable Englishwomen earnestly engaging in Bach with little real understanding or verve provides a fine example of the higher stodginess, strangely moving in the sheer persistence of its incongruity.

The Bach choir is on the look-out for new members by the way. Jolly good fun; two hours a week; handy for Victoria Station; you may apply here: http://www.thebachchoir.org.uk/singing.php

[MickyD]

Stand by for some flak after this post, Sydney!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Stand by for some flak after this post, Sydney!

"Flak"? Not really. It has become quite predictable for the brainwashed supporters of the HIPP movement to cow-tow to the constant barrage of propaganda which says that if they did something 225 years ago, we should do it now. It's all rather tiresome and I, for one, let it pass over my head and enjoy performances with the likes Munchinger, Karl Richter, Klemperer, Rilling, Gardiner in equal measure. Why be miserable because the maths (supposedly) doesn't add up?

[salymap]

Is there any news of how James Gilchrist is? Singers don't leave a performance and get taken off to hospital for nothing. I wish him well and sympathise with him.

[MickyD]

"Flak"? Not really. It has become quite predictable for the brainwashed supporters of the HIPP movement to cow-tow to the constant barrage of propaganda which says that if they did something 225 years ago, we should do it now. It's all rather tiresome and I, for one, let it pass over my head and enjoy performances with the likes Munchinger, Karl Richter, Klemperer, Rilling, Gardiner in equal measure. Why be miserable because the maths (supposedly) doesn't add up?

There are very few more enthusiastic followers of HIPP than myself, EA. But you might be heatened to know that I have never lost my admiration or affection for those recordings of Bach by Karl Richter and Karl Muchinger, which introduced me to these wonderful works at an early age.