Michael Alexander Willens, Kolner Akademie - Johann Mattheson: Das größte Kind / Christmas Oratorio (2009)
Michael Alexander Willens, Kölner Akademie - Johann Mattheson: Das größte Kind / Christmas Oratorio (2009)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 290 Mb | Total time: 56:01 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | # 777 455-2 | Recorded: 2008
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 290 Mb | Total time: 56:01 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | # 777 455-2 | Recorded: 2008
We tend to think of Johann Mattheson (1681–1764) as a theorist first and foremost, and as a composer almost as an afterthought. To be sure, he competed in a world in Hamburg that at one time or another featured Reinhard Keiser, Georg Philipp Telemann, and George Frederick Handel; indeed, all of these were friends, sometimes rivals, and in one case, he and Handel even fought a duel over an opera, Cleopatra (Mattheson would have won, but a metal coat button deflected his sword, fortunately both for posterity and Handel). As a singer, he was well regarded, but by 1705 he had traded his performance chops for a real job as private secretary to the English ambassador. Although this was his day job, he also functioned as the cantor of the cathedral in Hamburg, for which he wrote a huge amount of sacred music that is only now becoming recognized alongside that of his colleague Telemann as pivotal works of the late Baroque.
Mattheson’s music has been slowly revived over the past decade, with several recordings on Alpha and Ramée of instrumental sonatas, and of course the inevitable inclusion of his music in vocal compendia of the Hamburg opera, such as the Brockes Passion or Cleopatra . The three recordings released on the cpo label by the Köln Academy under Michael Willens may well herald a more concentrated effort to making his music better known. Two of these—the third an oratorio titled Der Liebreich und Geduldige David I have not yet heard—are devoted to Christmas music, consisting of a short work barely 36 minutes in length, to which Mary’s expostulation known as the Magnificat has been added to complete the disc, and a rather longer one of more exegetical nature, Das größte Kind . In the first disc, one can discern Mattheson’s mastery of the Lutheran sacred genre. The opening chorale has a running string line punctuated by trumpets that would grace a Bach oratorio, while the first aria, “Der Väter Wunsch,” has a pair of obbligato horns that sounds very much like Telemann. But Mattheson is no slavish imitator, for the double flute and viola of the aria “Man darf dir einen kleinen Raum” forms a unique coloristic counterpart to the melismatic soprano. Mattheson is not afraid to insert things that would be slightly suspect, like a stately dance ritornello for oboes and strings that seems decidedly secular. The Magnificat has two bookend choruses that feature high trumpets (and soprano lines in the upper registers) and a nice call-and-response format. The work that really demonstrates Mattheson’s style, however, is the longer oratorio apparently written about 1729. It is richly scored, with trumpets and horns used in a manner that is identical to Handel’s Water Music of a decade earlier. The opening chorale, with its high soprano line, is a gigue or gavotte, no doubt masquerading as a pastoral, but with a much brisker tempo. Surprises come rapidly one after the other. In the aria “Wer kann dieses recht erwegen?” the unison string accompaniment and the weaving of two sopranos is right out of Vivaldi, while in the second part Mattheson repeats a traditional German chorale, In dulce jubilo, three times with new Latin text in an otherwise all-German text. There are several nice, reflective accompanied recitatives for the Bride of Christ, a character that seems a bit awkward from a Protestant liturgical standpoint, because it hints at taking the veil. Finally, the arias are replete with long sections of melismatic lines that often veer into unusual harmony, as one might expect of Hamburg’s most famous composer, Telemann. Mattheson pays homage but is no imitator, using in the fashion of the time the various styles and techniques of his friends and colleagues to weld together a unified work.
Michael Willens keeps his ensemble moving along with crisp tempos and excellent phrasing. The singers are spot-on in terms of pitch, and the gnarly part of Maria in the large oratorio is adeptly handled by Swedish soprano Susanne Rydén. The chorus consists of all eight principals in this work, sounding as if there were many more, but allowing for the accompaniment to come through without muddying the sound. In short, these are two excellent discs, and as the leader in the field of North German Baroque music, Hermann Max, advances in age, Willens is a worthy successor of the mantle of music revival. These discs will certainly give an insight into Mattheson the composer, and I would highly recommend both for every collection.–Bertil van Boer
Performer:
Maria/Eine Hirtin - Susanne Rydén, soprano
Die Braut Christi/Ein Menschenkind/Eine Hirtin - Nele Gramß, soprano
Ein Menschenkinde/Eine Hirte - Anne Schmid, alto
Melissa Hegney, alto
Die Andacht/Ein Hirte - Gerd Türk, tenor
Ulrich Cordes, tenor
Joseph/Ein Hirte - Wolf Matthias Friedrich, bass
Das Nachdenken - Thilo Dahlmann, bass
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens, conductor
Track List:
01. Part I. Corale: Gelobet seyst du Jesu Christ
02. Aria a 2 con Coro: Sey willkommen tausendmahl (Maria, Joseph, Coro)
03. Recitativo: So ist durch mich das Heil der Welt (Maria, Joseph)
04. Aria con Coro: Israel! freue dich (Maria, Coro)
05. Recitativo: Erstarre doch verfinsterte Natur (Joseph, Maria)
06. Aria: Heller Glanz von's Vaters Licht (Joseph)
07. Corale: Das ewge Licht geht da herein
08. Aria a 2: Wer kann dieses recht erwegen? (Die Menschenkinder)
09. Corale: Er kommt aus seines Vaters Schooß
10. Part II. Corale: Er äußert sich all sein' Gewalt
11. Recitativo: O allerliebstes Kind (Das Nachdenken)
12. Aria: Weg, du Kostbarkeit der Erden (Das Nachdenken)
13. Recitativo: Ist dis der Ort? (Die Hirten und Hirtinnen, Maria, Joseph)
14. Aria a 3: Es klopft noch unsre volle Brust (Ein Hirten)
15. Recitativo: Ja, was noch mehr (Ein Hirte)
16. Corale: In dulci jubilo
17. Aria con Coro: Großer Gott der du deine Allmacht neigest (Die Andacht, Coro)
18. Accompagnato: Gott hat mein Fleisch an sich genommen (Die Braut Christi)
19. Corale: O Jesu parvule
20. Accompagnato: Und will der Tod mir meine Augen brechen (Die Braut Christi)
21. Aria: Was schad't mir der Tod (Die Braut Christi)
22. Corale: Ubi sunt gaudia
23. Recitativo: O frohe Nacht (Die Hirten)
24. Aria: Komme dann erwehlte Seele (Maria)
25. Recitativo: So laßet uns des Herren Güte (Joseph, Ein Hirte)
26. Corale: Das hat er alles uns getan
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Michael Alexander Willens, Kölner Akademie / Mattheson - Das Grösste Kind
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Michael Alexander Willens, Kolner Akademie - Johann Mattheson: Das größte Kind / Christmas Oratorio (2009)
