Winston Chan( Coll:, 22-) discovers HIP
The Wykehamist
J. S. Bach’ s Mass in B Minor
Winston Chan( Coll:, 22-) discovers HIP
Winchester Philharmonic Choir, Winchester College Choral Society, Winchester Cathedral Chamber Choir & Oxford Bach Soloists Sofia Kirwan-Baez soprano Charlotte Bowden soprano Hugh Cutting counter tenor Sebastian Hill tenor Morgan Pearse bass SRB director Winchester Cathedral, 21st January
Under normal circumstances, I would hardly do more than probe with a yardstick the tradition of so-called Historically Informed Performance( HIP). Indeed, it does take a certain bravado for one to abandon the cover of vibrato and felted timpani mallets, for natural horns notoriously as reliable as PVC pipes. Still, I do suppose my curiousity got the better of me, not to mention that the Mass in b was, as the programme booklet happily pointed out,‘ the greatest musical work of art of all times and of all peoples’ as put, I’ m sure, without the slightest hint of hyperbole by critic Hans Georg Nägeli in 1818.
The Oxford Bach Soloists certainly did not disappoint. To my great personal relief, they turned out to be much more Pinnock and Gardiner than the mad Currentzis or Harnoncourt( sorry!) that I had feared( and have come to somewhat associate with HIP). Under SRB’ s experienced baton, the Soloists retained clarity and precision despite lacking the rounded punch of modern instruments( see Richter’ s monumental 1961 / 2 recording of the Mass), letting Bach’ s intricate polyphony as well as their lovely baroque timbres speak for themselves. The woodwinds were particularly impressive— being positioned in front of the strings and continuo, their earthy textures cut through the thickest of orchestral tuttis. The Gloria further provided for plenty of virtuosic and expressive solo moments, not to mention the beautifully melancholic and reflective oboe d’ amore obligatti in‘ Et in Spiritum’ of the Credo. Nonetheless, most delightful of all, as is to be expected from any live orchestral performance on period instruments, were the pyrotechnics of the valveless brass players. Brief but memorable horn calls in‘ Quoniam’ of the Gloria, played with both flair and delicacy, were followed by controlled yet commanding trumpeting in the ensuing chorus, encapsulating the visceral thrill of a historically informed tutti done exhilaratingly well. The continuo was also excellent, notably featuring double bass playing so expressive that it bordered on wild. At the end, DM further garnered his own round of applause for pulling out all the stops on the organ. In short, I do find it hard not to concede that this group of HIP-py Soloists has, indeed, much convinced me with their expressivity and variety. Despite the rushed rehearsal time being somewhat noticeable in places, especially concerning the undeniably tricky counterpoint, I was overall left feeling very pleasantly surprised. But enough on the orchestra.
Our own Choral Society, joining forces with two other choirs, produced together what was quite literally a massive wall of sound. Albeit certainly doing no favours to the Mass’ rather complex contrapuntal writing, if Bach really had wished for his chorus to represent the booming, earth-trembling voice of God Almighty, this arguably wasn’ t far off.( Imagine what Joshua Rifkin would have to say to this!) The cathedral acoustic was, indeed, in large part to blame, but I do suppose it was a worthy trade-off for the sheer magnificent scale of the project. Thus, despite the
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