Above: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra and soloists were conducted by Dr Elizabeth Scott. In this photo, bass Andrew O’Connor is the vocal soloist performing. Image: Keith Saunders.
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra continue to provide audiences with quality historically informed performance firsts in exciting orchestral concerts and recordings. This Holy Thursday that excitement went next level, with a collaboration which presented Mendelssohn’s 1841 arrangement of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, as Mendelssohn would have expressed it at the time.
Shortly after its most recent album release, Midsummer Dreams, in which two loved Mendelssohn works were included with historically accurate expressive techniques, this orchestra is back playing HIP Mendelssohn music. This time it is Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the Mendelssohn 1841 pre-Easter version, played again employing nineteenth century performance techniques to further colour this masterpiece.
The orchestra’s HIP experts collaborated with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (members of VOX plus Chamber Singers) who were directed with formidable dramatic result and a wealth of nuance by Associate Music Director Elizabeth Scott, who conducted this version. Operating with passion, detail, Romantic gesturing and focussed narrative energies above the instrumental and choral wash of colour were the five soloists: Penelope Mills, soprano, Emily Edmonds, mezzo-soprano Andrew Goodwin, tenor (Evangelist), Teddy Tahu Rhodes bass-baritone (Jesus) and Andrew O’Connor bass.
Above: Rachael Beesley and Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra string players. The orchestra collaborated with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for this concert, conducted by Dr Elizabeth Scott. Image: Keith Saunders.
The score of Matthäus-Passion by J.S Bach made an exciting entry into the teenage Mendelssohn’s already prodigious and exciting life, after being gifted to him by his Granny Bella, a little over two months before Easter in 1824. The introduction of Bach, a dead composer to Germany and thankfully then to the rest of the world became a preoccupation for the gifted Romantic period composer, orchestrator, conductor and concert arranger. His revival concerts included one in the work’s original location of Thomaskirche in Leipzig on Palm Sunday in 1841 with over 150 singers.
Mendelssohn, conscious surely of the dramatic and expressive excellence in this antique score and setting of important Christian stories and texts. He worked over the years to present Bach’s genius to an artistic world in the nineteenth century preferring concerts with works from living composers, or celebrity composer-performers. He also brought back Bach’s Mass in B minor and as an editor, orchestrator and conductor, championed the drama and expression of Bach to attract audiences in his milieu.
This Sydney concert brought to us Bach’s St Matthew Passion with precise and colourful storytelling from VOX, Sydney Philharmonia’s young adult choir, augmented Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ skilled Chamber Singers. Young orchestral performers mentored by Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, Young Mannheim Symphonists were also in the instrumental ranks for this accurate tracing of Mendelssohn’s restoration arrangement of Bach’s descriptive Passion. The inclusion of emerging performers from both artistic groups was a special touch this Easter to the project at hand.
Above: Bass-Baritone soloist Teddy Tahu Rhodes sang the role of Jesus. Image: Keith Saunders.
The assembled soloists in Mendelssohn’s version get to sing the story with lush accompaniments for some recitatives, and arias or duets awash with nineteenth century wind choirs including clarinets and basset horns. It is a fuller, transformed hue, but one that is effective in pacing the tale’s momentum and the vivid scenes created by Bach’s librettist, Picander.
The repeated themes of sorrow, shame, gratitude for Jesus and loyalty to his work were beautifully intoned by the choir, with smooth, seamless phrasing and patternings of text throughout all chorales. Outbursts and high volume and the shifts to choir as characterised groups were achieved with great dramatic force and contrast, well supported by the HIP colours and shapes from Mendelssohn’s ‘Bach-plus’ orchestra paying Mendelssohn’s creatively orchestrated cover version.
The final statement by the choir following the death of Jesus was a well-shaped choral lullaby and resignation bringing the colours and drama of the night to rest. It was a postlude perhaps to inspire a global peace in our current world, with renewed hope and maybe a better treatment of everyone possible everywhere.
Above: tenor Andrew Goodwin ensured this version came complete with formidable narration, in his role as Evangelist. Image: Keith Saunders.
Delivering a strident role in the part of Jesus was bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes. This 1841 version in concert and this country are fortunate to have his powerful voice at their disposal. His strength of tone and consistent flow brought the character and conversation of Jesus’ text to life with heroic yet sensitive phrasing and careful treatment of line befitting Picander’s dynamic dialogues throughout. Mendelssohn’s period crowd would have loved this religious hero’s plight as sung in this concert, as did the current audience.
Penelope Mills and Emily Edmonds produce smooth washes of colour and emotion and the strings and winds with pleasing interaction here. The well- known ‘Erbarme dich’ aria with violin obligato featured Mendelsohn’s re-allocation to soprano. Here the fuller, ornamented violin part by Rachael Beesley, Co-Artistic Director of Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra sang with the fresh shapes and decoration. Its use of historically informed performance techniques, brought the expressive style of Mendelssohn’s 1841 close to us for this loved part of the Passion.
Bass soloist Andrew O’Connor had the chameleon part in this work, shifting characters from Judas Escariot through Pontius Pilate and other male characters. These shifts were handled fluidly and with a keen talent for characterisation. His fine Bach singing included smooth phrasing and colours weaving in and out of the Romantic orchestrations with ease. His aria following Jesus’ death that translates as: ‘Make yourself pure, my heart, I myself would be Jesus’ tomb’ was an exercise in stillness. Its precision was also drenched appropriately in the Christian loyalty and heartbreak at that end of this passion’s storytelling swoop.
Above: Mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds and soprano Penelope Mills. Image: Keth Saunders.
As the Evangelist, Andrew Goodwin was, as always, an excellent tenor to perform the part of narrator. His immense range of vocal colour reflected the fine, vivid new rainbows brought to us by Mendelssohn and by the united musical teams working on this project. Whether in extended comment or lithe linking of characters or dialogue, his clear tenor leapt about this oratorio work, now presented with Mendelssohn’s accent-an Australian premiere in this historically informed performance 1841 mode.
The many fine creative and research strands to this event will hold an important part in Sydney’s performance history, and in the Mendelssohn and Bach performance histories both in Australia and globally. This project showcases a stunning status quo and bright future for HIP performance practice plus choral and vocal music in this country.
A studio recording of the collaboration’s results, to add an Antipodean HIP interpretation of Mendelssohn’s version, would be a fine way to commemorate the significant combined efforts of all involved.
