To rephrase Friday night’s closing chorus of the sixth and final part of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Koerner Hall, “With immortal Bach had its shelter/ The mortal race of man.”
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
To hear Collegium Vocale Ghent and its founding conductor Philippe Herreweghe perform four of the six parts of the Christmas Oratorio was one of the finest gifts a Toronto fan of Baroque-era music could have received this season.
Performances of the oratorio are a rarity in a city long held in the thrall of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, which didn’t have its premiere until six years after Bach’s work was unfurled over six Christmastide church services at the end of 1734.
Bach’s oratorio was never meant to be performed in one sitting. It is too long for the average concert schedule, so Herreweghe chose Parts 1 and 2, which deal specifically with the Nativity of Christ, Part 3, which recapitulates the gift humankind has just received, and part 6, which sets to music the journey of the Magi, turning the gift around from us back to the babe in the manger.
A tenor sings the Biblical narrative, soloists comment and the choir represents the people.
Herreweghe brought with him 16 wonderfully balanced singers, of which four — soprano Dorothée Mields, countertenor Damien Guillon, tenor Thomas Hobbs and bass Peter Kooij — were exceptionally fine soloists. There were also 23 musicians performing on period instruments, which included the seductively silky tones of twin, curved oboes da caccia to accompany the shepherds on their journey to Bethlehem.
Combined, each part of the oratorio went by quickly in a waft of richly perfumed sound.
It isn’t unusual to hear Bach performed briskly. It’s also common to hear historically informed performances fill the music with a clear, often lilting pulse. But it is very rare to have the whole presented as lightly and elegantly as this group did on Friday.
This was music that metaphorically melted in the mouth, leaving behind rich flavours and sweet delights.
It occurred to me, about halfway through the part 2 that Bach would probably have never heard the music as impeccably performed as this.
The nature of a busy church job would be such that the whole enterprise was probably rushed, finished at the last minute. Even the most experienced singers and instrumentalists would have had to work very hard to learn this complex music — and there is never enough rehearsal time.
Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale, on the other hand, practically have this music in their blood, and Friday’s Toronto stop was part of a wider North American tour, meaning that we were the beneficiaries of multiple previous rehearsals and performances.
Then there is the acoustically fine Koerner Hall, which presents each note clearly to just about every seat in the house. Compare that to the echoey interior of a large stone building like Bach’s Thomaskirche in Leipzig, and you quickly realise that we were truly privileged to hear every syllable clearly articulated — something the average 18th century Lutheran churchgoer could only dream of.
Let’s now hope that this was a gift that will keep on giving, and that the Belgians will soon return with more musical treats.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
