Richard Balcombe on Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society’s performance of JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Bishop’s Stortford College Memorial Hall
Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society took on a host of different roles – including the jeering mob at Christ’s crucifixion – when they performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s powerful Baroque masterpiece, the St Matthew Passion, to a packed audience at the Bishop’s Stortford College Memorial Hall on Saturday night (March 29).
The work is a musical retelling of the story of the last days of Jesus, including the Last Supper, the betrayal, the Crucifixion and the burial.
Professional conductor and local resident Richard Balcombe was in the audience and sent the Indie his reflections…
Following on from their exhilarating performance of the Verdi Requiem in December, Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society presented JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion to a large and enthusiastic audience in the Memorial Hall of Bishop’s Stortford College on Saturday night.
Bach’s two settings of the Passion – St John and St Matthew – are at the pinnacle of the choral repertoire. Telling the story through a narrator (the Evangelist), vocal soloists, choir and orchestra, we are transported into a musical world of huge contrasts: the sublime to the agonising.
Musically it is very complex, with taxing vocal solos accompanied by dazzling virtuosic obbligati from the orchestra.
We were lucky to have Musica Donum Dei as the orchestra, playing on original, or copies of original instruments, which give a much mellower sound overall, but also the opportunity to shock when, for example, depicting the earthquake after the rending of the veil in the temple. There were particularly beautiful contributions from oboe, baroque flute and viola da gamba.
For the role of the Evangelist, we were privileged to hear the mellifluous tones of James Gilchrist, who has sung this all over the world. He delivered the narration with passion and absolute clarity throughout, beautifully accompanied by the continuo players.
David Shipley sang the role of Jesus with a powerful, resonant bass, full of pain and anguish. It is wonderful how Bach always accompanies his recitatives with strings – it gives a sort of musical halo around the character. We heard strong solo aria contributions from the four young soloists, Emily Wilson, Charlotte Sleet, Jordan Wilson and Julian Chou-Lambert.
The choir – or I should say the two choirs (there are two choirs and two orchestras) – acquitted themselves admirably. Whether commenting on the action, answering the questions posed by the Evangelist in short outbursts or singing the beautiful chorales, they were always attentive and passionate. In particular, the opening and closing choruses were powerful and very moving.
As always, Richard Brain marshalled his forces with aplomb, pacing the piece well and maintaining tension as the story unfolded.
It’s a brave undertaking to perform this piece and, once again, I have to say how fortunate we are in Bishop’s Stortford to be able to listen to this wonderful music on our doorstep.
