period instruments affair

Edit: The broadcast is at 3PM EST, not 4 like i said. Here’s again the link.

** disclaimer: this is purely my own opinion, in particular about the hall. everyone should sample the hall for his/herself before making decision.

A long time ago, young thadieu set out to explore life and voluntarily registered for a class called “classical music appreciation”.  As part of the requirement, each student had to attend and submit full reports of 3 live concerts.  That first one was a bore, in the hectic zoo of tripple upper-deck of Hollywood Bowl, which we arrived late and left at intermission to avoid further traffic.  The 2nd one took place in a church during lunch time, 4 players on period instruments enjoying playing and interacting with the audience.  Everything i learned in class was on display, how the instruments ask and respond to each other warmly.  After the concert, the musicians invited us up for a closer look at the viola da gamba and some other really odd looking things.  I wrote up a very enthusiastic report, and despite never attended a 3rd concert, received very high mark for the class.

Since the first Bach Matthäuspassion in that church in Berlin, I’ve gained quite a few more insights into the music.  The piece is long enough that in every live performance you catch something new.  Anyhow, a chance to hear it performed live on period instruments was too great to pass up, so i dislodged my wariness of Symphony Hall and bought tix to hear the Handel and Haydn Society performance last night.

Boston Symphony Hall, (c) Stu Rosner

We shall focus on the positive part first:

The highlight of the night was “Erbarme Dich” (and the mezzo) . That’s Aisslinn Nosky solo violin to mezzo Monica Groop warm voice.  *Love* the tempo set by Harry Christophers. Here’s another case where bitter regret can be conveyed through faster than slow tempo (last time i said this was to “Che faro senza Euridice“). Through the years, my feeling is that it’s really a hit or miss with violinist/tempo/mezzo combo to bring out the emotion in the music. Here, the sounds were incredibly warm from both, beautifully mixed, left you all the time in the world to reflect. I know this aria is sooo famous and has been sung to death.  But to really have time to reflect on that irreversible moment is a unique experience: Peter had just denied Jesus three times and is now seen standing outside crying bitterly begging for forgiveness (don’t be alarmed to hear that from me, I grew up a catholic remember? and used to read through this whole story, even walked along the 14 stages in church reciting the bible.)

The entire 2nd half was superb.  i *love* duets, and duets you shall have many:

Aisslinn Nosky tuning violin

 

violin + mezzo,
violin + bass
violins + soprano,
viola da gamba + bass,
mezzo + soprano (+ woodwinds),
flutes + mezzo,
oboe + mezzo,
oboe + soprano,
oboe + tenor,
violins + bass

just to name a few… AND, i’ve always wanted to hear the mezzo’s notes in So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen and what the violins are playing in Mache Dich, mein Herze, rein. And as it turned out, Monica Groop’s tone was strong and dark, and stood out very very well that i was able to hear hers in entirety, yayyy. And i now also a big fan of her voice. Really, it’s not so usual to catch such a warm and strong mezzo (subjective here of course, Ingaborg Danz was here at Symphony Hall last year and hausmate reported not hearing her well, mezzo and gigantic halls don’t often mesh). This whole concert will be broadcast live this sunday at 3pm EST on WGBH boston. Do tune in if you are interested. And for Mache Dich, mein Herze, rein, it’s always the case in recording that the bass’ voice dominates so much I don’t get to hear the violins. As it turned out again, sitting way on the left, with the bass on my right ear and WAAARM violin I (headed by Ms. Nosky) on my left (and strong) ear, the distinction was GREAT. love the violins’ music! I’m of course also a big fan of this aria, but for this particular time, i love the violins much more than the bass, so it all worked out.

The rest was great too. The choirs were great. LOVE the tempo, much much more sensitive than a couple of weeks ago. Orchestra dynamics were great, all thanks to Harry Christophers and the superb musicians. Big shout out to the woodwind section on orchestra I, as well as the AMAZING viola-da-gambist (?!).  Orchestra II sounded thin to me, which I’ve attributed it to the distance (see diagram on right, more below).  I’ve come to a conclusion: it’s HARD to get me distracted while listening to Bach St Matthews Passion. There’s soo much communication in the music, not one bit of attention is lost! which brings me to the first part, and why I almost left the concert at intermission…

The first half, from seat CC26, there’s not much to discuss. You can call me deaf if it suits you, but i declare again: Symphony Hall is too big for period instruments. It felt like Munich central train station, huuuuge space, musicians spread out across what must have been a 30m(?) stage.  Aisslinn Nosky was there, Christina Day Martinson was there.  Should I even care? I couldn’t hear them (can’t hear = no detail, you can’t just “hear” the sound of a violin for the sake of identifying it as a violin without anything else to say). Anyhow, St. Matthews Passion is truly an intimate piece. And to hear / miss so much of the fine details of communication between the orchestra and the singers, it’s like a close friend confining in you her most intimate moment from 10m away and you’re wondering half of the time if she’s talking to you or to some other people.  Ever have a feeling where people kind of “yell” in your direction and “appear” to be SOOO into what they are doing, but you’re indifferent to their passion due to no connection? I considered just leaving the concert at intermission.  But, of course, being such a resourceful person, yours truly opted to skip UP 15 rows to land at seat P24.  And that is where one should be! (closer if finer too, i didn’t want to cause a commotion.)