The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records - Saint Matthew Passion Pages at the Teri Noel Towe Home Pages

Johann Sebastian Bach

The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records

This remarkable photograph is not a computer generated composite; the original of the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, all that remains of the portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that belonged to his pupil Johann Christian Kittel, is resting gently on the surface of the original of the 1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.


1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait, Courtesy of William H. Scheide, Princeton, New Jersey
Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, ca. 1733, Artist Unknown, Courtesy of the Weydenhammer Descendants
Photograph by Teri Noel Towe
©Teri Noel Towe, 2001, All Rights Reserved

The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records

Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244

Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244

Summary

Those who are truly interested in finding out how Bach heard the Saint Matthew Passion should try to find a copy of the tape of the Rifkin broadcast. The choice among the three commerical period instrument recordings available at the time this essay was finished -- the first Harnoncourt, the Herreweghe, and the Gardiner -- will depend on the listener's preference for an extroverted interpretation, an inward approach, or a large scaled late Classical style reading.

Those who prefer the classic Mendelssohnian approach on modern instruments will find the Lehmann and the Mauersberger to be the most accurate and the most compelling, but both of these are out of print. {The Fritz Lehmann recording has been republished on compact disc on the Music & Arts label.} That Solti and Klemperer are marginally less faithful to the true early 19th century style is immaterial. Both sets rank among the greatest interpretations of the SMP on record.

The collector who prefers a charismatic, Romantic approach will want the 1950 Karajan performance if sound quality is not an important consideration. If it is, either the second Karajan or the Jochum set will prove eminently satisfactory.

Those who want a "modern" but relatively "authentic" interpretation will want to choose from the Wöldike (the most conservative and Mendelssohnian), the Somary (the most Raminesque), and the Corboz (the fleetest and the most streamlined).

Endnotes

Alphabetical Discography

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P. S.: Please don't forget that, if you are interested in a thorough, accurate discography of the recordings of the Saint Matthew Passion that have appeared since the preparation of this article, you should go at once to Aryeh Oron's remarkable Bach Cantatas Website.

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