Matthaus-Passion BWV 244 - conducted by John Butt

Matthäus-Passion BWV 244
Conducted by John Butt

V-1	J.S. Bach: Matthew Passion (Final performing version, c. 1742)
Matthäus-Passion BWV 244, Final performing version, c1742
John Butt
Dunedin Consort & Players
Tenor [Evangelist]: Nicholas Mulroy; Bass [Jesus]: Matthew Brook Choir One: Soprano: Susan Hamilton; Alto: Clare Wilkinson; Tenor: Nicholas Mulroy; Bass: Matthew Brook Choir Two: Soprano: Cecilia Osmond; Alto: Annie Gill; Tenor: Malcolm Bennett; Bass: Brian Bannatyne-Scott Other vocalists: Ali Darragh, Frances Cooper, Michael Wallace, Roderick Bryce
Linn Records CKD-313		Sep 1-6, 2007	3-CD / TT: 161:00
Recorded at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Buy this album at: Amazon.com

St. Matthew Passion from John Butt (1742 performing edition)

BWV 846-893 wrote (January 27, 2008):
This looks interesting (due out Mar. 10) . . .
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-matthew-passion.aspx

BWV 846-893 wrote (February 7, 2008):
Audio samples now available . . . too bad the one for the opening chorus is not longer.
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-matthew-passion.aspx

Yoël L. Arbeitman (Malvenuto) wrote (February 7, 2008):
[To BWV 846-893] Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I always find listening to these samples on NO VALUE at all in forming any opinion. in 2006 when Linn Records released Butt's 1742 Dublin version of someone's Messiah, I bought it from them, from the UK (the US dollar still had some worth at that time). I found it very worthwhile in that it did what it intended to do, not be THE Messiah performance of all time and which one wanted above all others but representing the version in question within the strictures of using the singers and
instrumentalists of their own group.

Now this appears to be the stated purpose in this last performing version of the Matthäus-Passion. That sounds fine. Now of course when they do not use boys but claim that they are representing the instruments of that last performing edition by JSB, they are misleading us. Some caveats are necessary like: representing Bach's last version with singers he would never recognize. I have recently heard here and there superb boys in various Bach works, not inadequate ones as in some recordings best known.

There will not be anything really authentic about this performance. I did enjoy the Handel although a list-mate of mine kept on insisting that it was "Plain Jane", compared to his favorite recordings (he missed the point, it seems to me).

Paul Dirmeikis wrote (February 7, 2008):
[To BWV 846-893] Thanks for the link.

The samples, even too short (and with a mistake in the last sample), are quite impressive, in my opinion. Great lisibility and presence in the choral parts, and an excellent recording of the instruments. Of course, 30-second samples can't allow anyone to hear if the solo singers really do their job, i.e. constructing an aria with emotion and spirituality, and if the conductor has succeeded in giving unity, spiritual coherence and breath to the whole work, but what I've listened to sounds quite appealing. I'll probably download this version.

William Hoffman wrote (February 7, 2008):
[To BWV 846-893] Will Hoffman wonders: Now that we have John Butt's rendition of the SMP(BWV244), is it possible that he will author a Cambridge Music Handbooks edition of the SMP(BWV244) as he did with his excellent work on BWV232? A comprehensive study of the Passions is long overdue after the recent fine work on BWV 232 by Butt, Stauffer and Rilling.

Uri Golomb wrote (February 7, 2008):
William Hoffman asked if John Butt is planning a Cambridge Music Handbook on the SMP, adding that "A comprehensive study of the Passions is long overdue after the recent fine work on BWV 232 by Butt, Stauffer and Rilling".

First of all, I think (though I'm not sure) that he is indeed planning book on the Bach Passions, though not necessarily within the Cambridge Music Handbook series. As a former student of his (John Butt supervised my doctoral dissertation), I might be prejudiced, but I certainly believe that it should prove an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Bach's Passions -- especially given the articles he's already published on these works.

Secondly, it's not quite accurate that a study of the Passions is "long overdue". There is, in fact, a fascinating book on them already -- Hearing Bach's Passions by Daniel Melamed (Oxford UniversityPress, 2005). Shortly before that book came out, Melamed published an article on the Passions in Goldberg magazine; you can read it on their website -- start from http://tinyurl.com/yu25kh or go to http://tinyurl.com/yo6shv for a printable version. That article can be seen as a useful summary of his book. I'm sure that John Butt's book, when it comes out, will add significant and unique insights beyond those on offer in Melamed's book, and that many interested readers will want to possess both books. For now, however, Melamed's book is already available, and strongly recommended.

Neil Halliday wrote (February 8, 2008):
[To BWV 846-893] Butt pays special attention to the "crowd" choruses. If you have good computer speakers, listen carefully to number 81 of the samples. (You can hear the whole movement). You can hear the two separate groups of voices and instruments (Coro I and Coro II, with eleven staves for each group); at first we hear antiphonal affects, but the the parts gradually combine so that 'Coro I' (voices and instruments) conclude by doubling Coro II, giving the impression, in the lively acoustic, of much larger choral and instrumental forces as the two groups combine in this fashion. This is exciting music!

{Some of the tempi are not my choice, but the instrumentation and voices generally sound strong and attractive).

Paul Dirmeikis wrote (February 8, 2008):
[To Paul Dirmeikis] I downloaded the recording this evening, and I am currently listening to the first part of this SMP. My first impressions are confirmed. This is undoubtedly a great recording.

But... I want to warn those who intend to download it: there is indeed a mistake concerning the final Chorus, mistake which doesn't affect only the listening samples, but the downloaded samples as well!

I've just written to Linn Records to inform them about this problem. I guess they will fix it quickly (and I do hope they'll send me the right file!).

So better wait a while before downloading, until they fix it...

Yoël L. Arbeitman wrote (February 12, 2008):
Neil Halliday wrote:
< Butt pays special attention to the "crowd" choruses. If you have good computer speakers, listen carefully to number 81 of the samples. (You can hear the whole movement). >
I have my computer plugged into my tuner. Warning. turn the sound down.

What I do not understand is how they can sell a continuous work in separate MP3 (flac, etc.). These days at least on operashare, continuous works are made available for downloading in a single file with cuesheets. One then splits the file and one gets seamless tracks rather than separate tracks as with separately uploaded MP3s, etc. for continuous music. Funny that commercial sites (this place and Amazon too where downloading is replacing CDs alas) are less up to speethan a sharing place.

Butt's SMP

John Pike wrote (March 25, 2008):
Apologies if this has already been discussed before I rejoined this list, but I read a review of John Butt's new recording of the SMP with the Dunedin consort in BBC Music Magazine last night. I trust the reviewer's judgement absolutely. This is an OVPP performance and it gets a rave review. Indeed, the reviewer says that it is now his benchmark recording. Sounds like one I should get.

A few months ago I saw Brad had said how much he admired a performance he had heard of the SMP on the radio, with Van Veldhoven and his Dutch choir. Does anyone know if there are plans to release this recording commercially?

Douglas Cowling wrote (March 25, 2008):
[To John Pike] CBC Radio played excerpts on Good Friday and it sounds like a first-rate recording. All of the soloists are sensational. As someone who was raised on Klemperer and then Richter, I find it hard to shake off my prejudices that the SMP has to have a big, monumental sound. However, this recording gives drama as compensation. I thought that the string playing was very sweet -- not the steel-wool sound that is often passed off as HIP these days.

Dorian Gray wrote (March 25, 2008):
[To John Pike] I just got it this week in the mail from Linn records directly. I am still speechless...

Neil Halliday wrote (March 26, 2008):
You can listen to samples: http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-matthew-passion.aspx

The OVPP voices sound underpowered in (for example) no. 36 "Thunder and lightning", but there is certainly plenty of drama in this performance.

Over Easter I tuned into a performance of the SMP by "Akadaemie für Alte Musik, Berlin" at "Konnen Trannen" (umlauts); this aria was a quick, fussily-articulated, happy little dance, with the soloist often trailing off into inaudibility on the "weak" notes. No passion or sorrow at all, just completely dry and academic (reflecting the ensemble's name perhaps). I turned it off straight away.

Butt's example has much more emotion; and the singer avoids the silly "swelling" tone production mentioned above.

Enjoy the samples.

Neil Halliday wrote (March 26, 2008):
I've listened to all the samples; this is possibly the most consistently enjoyable SMP I have heard (if I can judge from the samples) with all the vocal soloists able to please. It is excellent in many parameters, though some tempi are too fast for my taste, eg, "O man bewail thy sins (38)", "Give me back my Jesus" (no.58), "Make my heart pure", and the final chorus. Following the score, I notice the baroque flutes, with important parts, are weak in the choruses no. 51 and 62.

I suppose one reason why generally excellent, well-recorded performances such as this might be successful in 'OVPP' is due to the fact that the two OVPP choirs (from Coro I and Coro II) come together at some point in most of the choruses, therefore we in fact have 2VPP most of the time (in the choruses).

Butt tastefully holds most fermatas in the chorales, eschewing a common (unattractive) HIP characteristic. His 1st violins seem strong enough (only just in no.95) also a welcome change from many fussy HIP violin examples. One detail, I wish conductors would follow Bach's direction by playing 'forte' the chord that modulates from Bb minor to Eb minor (!), in the emotion-charged "My God, why have you forsaken me" section
(no. 87 in the samples).

Yoël L. Arbeitman wrote (March 27, 2008):
[To Douglas Cowling] As someone equally who was raised, no, rather who rose on Klemperer and Richter, I gladly got rid of them when I found other performances. I really found it very easy to shake them both off with all due respect to their devoted lives to their music(s).

John Butt: Short Biography | Recordings of Non-Vocal & Vocal Works | | BWV 244 - J. Butt
Reviews of Non-Vocal Recordings: Bach Organ Toccatas & Schubler Chorales from John Butt | New JSB Organ Recordings
Books: Bach Interpretation: Articulation Marks in the Primary Sources of J. S. Bach | The Cambridge Companion to Bach

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Last update: �March 28, 2008 �00:54:57