Gareth Malone St John Passion

[subcontrabass]

there is a woeful lack of Easter related programmes with any seriousness on TV and no music at all that I can find.

St John Passion on BBC2 on Easter Day !!! Can someone please explain to the programme planners the difference between Holy Week and Easter?

[Ein Heldenleben]

They’ve probably spent the money on alternative non - excellent innovative initiatives which appeal more widely the the student community.

Possibly there will be a drill St John Passion with community gospel and a ukelele band from St John’s next year

Oh Puhlease . Don’t give them ideas …

[Ein Heldenleben]

I just remembered I heard a trailer for this on In Tune last night

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xpv0

Gareth Malone coaches 8 amateur singers to sing the St Johns Passion with pros and an orchestra .
loath to cavil at GM because he’s done so much to raise the profile of choral singing but having heard the excerpts last night he has his work cut out.
This is a very demanding work - like all Bach. Even experienced amateurs struggle.
I hope it turns out better than Anyone Can Sing on Sky which proved quite the opposite, Any one can sing a Beatles tune maybe but 18th century choral and Opera is a different matter .

[oddoneout]

I just remembered I heard a trailer for this on In Tune last night

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xpv0

Gareth Malone coaches 8 amateur singers to sing the St Johns Passion with pros and an orchestra .
loath to cavil at GM because he’s done so much to raise the profile of choral singing but having heard the excerpts last night he has his work cut out.
This is a very demanding work - like all Bach. Even experienced amateurs struggle.
I hope it turns out better than Anyone Can Sing on Sky which proved quite the opposite, Any one can sing a Beatles tune maybe but 18th century choral and Opera is a different matter .

Well it's not OPPP, so as long as they don't mess up the pro choir it should be OK...
It's the BBCS I've just found out, and BBCNOW.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Well it's not OPPP, so as long as they don't mess up the pro choir it should be OK...
It's the BBCS I've just found out, and BBCNOW.

They were singing parts of it in the morning service on Sunday Radio 4 after the 8.0 news. Can't tell you anything about it - when it was announced, I turned the Radio off. (As it happens, I'd taken part in a performance of the St Matthew Passion the night before......)

Per the Blurb (does this qualify as "re-imagined"**?):

On Good Friday 1724, Bach's setting of the Passion narrative from St John's gospel was performed for the first time in Leipzig's Nikolaikirche. Three hundred years later Gareth Malone leads his own production with the BBC Singers and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The most dramatic moments from Bach's masterpiece are interspersed with excerpts from the Wintershall Passion, presented each Good Friday since 2010 by the WIntershall Players in London's Trafalgar Square. These two different tellings of the story of Christ’s death in music and drama are brought together with reflections by Bishop for Episcopal Ministry in the Anglican Communion Dr Jo Bailey Wells. Producer: Andrew Earis. Then BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Singers, with Gareth Malone – Conductor, Roderick Williams – Baritone, Nicholas Mulroy – Tenor.

** "Re-imagined" - I do spend a second or two considering whether to listen to "re-imagined" - often drama on R4. My default position is to listen to something else (or nothing).

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well it's not OPPP, so as long as they don't mess up the pro choir it should be OK...
It's the BBCS I've just found out, and BBCNOW.

What is OPPP? - it has a dozen different definitions on Google none of which fit the context.

[oddoneout]

They were singing parts of it in the morning service on Sunday Radio 4 after the 8.0 news. Can't tell you anything about it - when it was announced, I turned the Radio off. (As it happens, I'd taken part in a performance of the St Matthew Passion the night before......)

Per the Blurb (does this qualify as "re-imagined"**?):

On Good Friday 1724, Bach's setting of the Passion narrative from St John's gospel was performed for the first time in Leipzig's Nikolaikirche. Three hundred years later Gareth Malone leads his own production with the BBC Singers and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The most dramatic moments from Bach's masterpiece are interspersed with excerpts from the Wintershall Passion, presented each Good Friday since 2010 by the WIntershall Players in London's Trafalgar Square. These two different tellings of the story of Christ’s death in music and drama are brought together with reflections by Bishop for Episcopal Ministry in the Anglican Communion Dr Jo Bailey Wells. Producer: Andrew Earis. Then BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Singers, with Gareth Malone – Conductor, Roderick Williams – Baritone, Nicholas Mulroy – Tenor.

** "Re-imagined" - I do spend a second or two considering whether to listen to "re-imagined" - often drama on R4. My default position is to listen to something else (or nothing).

Well, I'm glad you posted that - I shan't bother to watch "The Concert" on BBC2 in that case, although I'll probably watch the two preceding bits, so long as they don't include too much of the "re-imagining"...

[mopsus]

What is OPPP? - it has a dozen different definitions on Google none of which fit the context.

I would guess 'one performer per part'.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I would guess 'one performer per part'.

So it’s rather like Heldenleben sings with the Royal Opera Chorus - not a problem as thankfully he’s inaudible?

[Cockney Sparrow]

I just remembered I heard a trailer for this on In Tune last night

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xpv0

Gareth Malone coaches 8 amateur singers to sing the St Johns Passion with pros and an orchestra .
loath to cavil at GM because he’s done so much to raise the profile of choral singing but having heard the excerpts last night he has his work cut out.
This is a very demanding work - like all Bach. Even experienced amateurs struggle.
I hope it turns out better than Anyone Can Sing on Sky which proved quite the opposite, Any one can sing a Beatles tune maybe but 18th century choral and Opera is a different matter .

Its getting the full BBC treatment - interview /discussion on Front Row (R4, 7.15) :

Gareth Malone and Hannah French celebrate Bach's St John Passion, which was first performed in Leipzig 300 years ago this Easter.

It might be the real deal St John Passion - afraid I was paying intermittent and scant attention. No idea how the 8 Amateur singers may, or may not, come into it.

[oddoneout]

From this it looks as if the "extra" bits are in the run-up programmes rather than the evening performance, so perhaps I will watch after all.

Two documentary programmes are being produced to trace the amateur singers’ progress, interweaved with Gareth Malone’s own journey of discovery about the meaning of the Passion and the story of Bach and the music.

I was amused at this viewer warning - scary stuff eh?

Please note that there will be audience participation in the very final part of the performance. The audience will be asked to sing the final chorale (rather like a hymn) which will last for approximately two minutes. No prior preparation will be required, but there will be a brief rehearsal on the day at 2.30pm.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ebh5q9

[Bert Coules]

I caught some of the TV performance but knew virtually nothing about it beforehand. Just what part (or parts?) did the eight untrained singers take? Were they in the chorus? The soloists didn't come across as newcomers (though the Jesus was a tad underpowered occasionally) and Google hasn't proved informative.

[subcontrabass]

I caught some of the TV performance but knew virtually nothing about it beforehand. Just what part (or parts?) did the eight untrained singers take? Were they in the chorus? The soloists didn't come across as newcomers (though the Jesus was a tad underpowered occasionally) and Google hasn't proved informative.

The programme webpage ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...-3-the-concert ) lists three soloists:

Nicholas Mulroy (Evangelist)
Roderick Williams (Christ)
Julia Doylr

[Bert Coules]

The programme webpage ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...-3-the-concert ) lists three soloists:

Nicholas Mulroy (Evangelist)
Roderick Williams (Christ)
Julia Doylr

All three of them are established professionals (and Mulroy was extremely impressive, I thought), so I imagine the eight amateurs were in the choir.

[oddoneout]

All three of them are established professionals (and Mulroy was extremely impressive, I thought), so I imagine the eight amateurs were in the choir.

They were in the choir - that was always the intention - but 3 of them also did the one-liner solos.
Mulroy was indeed excellent, but was badly served by sound production decisions IMO after a bit of choreography moved him out to the flank of the action, where he sounded as if he was singing from the back of a long tin shed. In fact there were, to my ears, some dodgy sound decisions at various points, especially tenors being brought forward to the detriment of the overall choir balance. The choreography that took place at certain points might have accounted for some, but not all of the variation I heard. There seemed to be two different "sound mixes", one quite balanced and "soft", and another rather thin and edgy sounding.
There were some interesting segments in the 2 preliminary programmes (the discussion with the rabbi about the portrayal of Jews in the text a notable one) and I would have liked a third episode as I think there was more material of interest - work with the voice trainers, and the choir rehearsals for instance - but perhaps it was better to err on the side of too little rather than too much. There was minimal "human interest" focus for instance, so no cringe-making "journeys" and social commentary.
The end result was far more more than OK, although would have provided plenty of material for experts to pick at I suspect, not least for the commitment( vocal and emotional) the amateurs brought to it.
Two observations I am left with. The decision to sing in English was not a surprise, but my goodness it did highlight the problems that can bring. I don't know which version was chosen(it wasn't either of the 2 old ones I had to hand - Rev. Troutbeck and Dr T A Lacey) but the language was obscure to say the least - even more so at points than the two ancient versions I have, where at least the formal (and archaic) constructions would have been a bit more familiar. It sounded at times like an uncomfortable mix of old and newer. Made a slight mockery of Gareth Malone's statement about the singers and listeners being able to hear the work in their own language(slightly contentious if one wants to be picky, as it was in Wales...) as would have been the case for those at the first hearing 300 years ago.
The other is that the project introduced people to the joy of live "classical" music, an experience they would never otherwise have. The audience included family and friends obviously, but also hopefully members of the public given flyers(free entry?) in the street by GM in the run-up to the concert. Whether they choose to take that introduction any further is nether here nor there - they have had the opportunity - a window, an experience - which they won't forget. The singers(and through them their family and friends) now know a bit more about the passion story, Bach, and what such "alien" music might have to offer.A couple of comments from loved ones suggests that the preliminaries weren't to their liking, but again no matter, not everyone who's "into classical" likes Bach, and even among those who do not everyone will like/prefer the StJ.
How sad that the denial of such opportunities(and not just music) is now considered not only acceptable, but to be aimed for, by the administration of this country.