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Saturday, September 23, 2017

Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin and Voice (Hilary Hahn; Christine Schäfer; Matthias Goerne)


Information

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
  1. "Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder" (St Matthew Passion)
  2. "Wann kommst du, mein Heil?" (Cantata BWV 140)
  3. "Ich bin vergnügt" (Cantata BWV 204)
  4. "Hier, in meines Vaters Stätte" (Cantata BWV 32)
  5. "Angenehmer Zephyrus" (Cantata BWV 205)
  6. Laudamus te (Mass in B minor)
  7. "Ja, ja, ich halte Jesum fest" (Cantata BWV 157)
  8. "Die Welt mit allen Königreichen" (Cantata BWV 59)
  9. "Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden" (Cantata BWV 58)
  10. "Wenn Trost und Hülf' ermangeln muß" (Cantata BWV 117)
  11. "Welt, ade, ich bin dein müde" (Cantata BWV 158)
  12. Erbarme dich (St Matthew Passion)

Hilary Hahn, violin
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Matthias Goerne, baritone

Munich Chamber Orchestra
Alexander Liebreich, conductor

Date: 2010
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4778092

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Review

An attractive concept, though only two of the three stars are shining

Bach single-artist recitals from DG have only enjoyed intermittent success. Christine Schäfer, Thomas Quasthoff and Anne-Sophie von Otter have all released such discs amounting to rather less than the sum of the parts. Hilary Hahn, however, has moulded an attractive landscape in which to celebrate the lyrical weave and dialoguing panache of Bach’s violin obbligato writing within a selection of soprano and bass arias, sung by two eminent artists.

Largely drawn from the mature Leipzig cantatas, this attractive programme reminds us of the consistently reflective, genial and assuaging emotional world to which the solo violin is most usually attached – if without the heart-stopping examples afforded to Bach’s prince of “obbligatists”, the oboe. There is also a similarity of aria here which doesn’t afford a compilation of this kind with ideal variety.

The full orchestra (a sleek, bass-resonant designer modern band) is employed only sparingly; more usual is the intimacy prevailing in chamber-like devotions such as the delectable duet “Wann kommst du” (from BWV140) in which Schäfer and Matthias Goerne – as Soul and Jesus – become one. Goerne moves to ever greater heights in his relaxed, supremely controlled and cleanly nuanced aria from Liebster Jesu (BWV32). He also irradiates the ingenious chorale-duet from the least ubiquitous of the bass-dominated cantatas, Der Friede sei mit dir (BWV158) with tender eloquence.

Alas, Christine Schäfer is a disappointing match for Goerne, despite glimpses of her undoubted quality. She seems caught between a half voice, which loses focus in the lower register, and a tendency to force elsewhere (especially noticeable in the pitching of the secular arias, BWV204 and 205). However, the upper reaches are often luminous and compelling, exemplified in a breathtaking “Erbarme dich”.

Hahn’s immaculate playing is the binding element, always logical and exacting if too rarely escaping the shackles of geometric rhythmic order and predictable articulation. For all the special colours of her modern-instrument playing, there is a shortage of the vocalised spontaneity of the best examples from the stables of Fritz Werner, Helmut Winschermann and the like. There is still beautiful music-making in this recital to match its thoughtful conception.

-- Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.classical-music.com/review/bach-violin-voice
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Apr10/Bach_Arias_Hahn_4778092.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=8008
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123968278
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jan/03/bach-violin-and-voice-hahn
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalcdreviews/7168297/Bach-Violin-and-Voice-CD-review.html
http://www.allmusic.com/album/bach-violin-and-voice-mw0001951816
https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Violin-Voice-Hilary-Hahn/dp/B002SSZ7E6

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Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from Italy and France. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach

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Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. In her active international career she has performed throughout the world both as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. She also has built a reputation for championing contemporary music. Several composers have written works specially for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon. She has released 16 albums on the Deutsche Grammophon and Sony labels, in addition to three DVDs, an Oscar-nominated movie soundtrack, an award-winning recording for children, and various compilations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Hahn

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Christine Schäfer (born May 3, 1965 in Frankfurt) is a German soprano. She studied from 1984 until 1991 at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, where her teachers were Ingrid Figur, Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She also took masterclasses with Arleen Augér and Sena Jurinac. Her repertoire contains several baroque operas, Bach cantatas, and many of the great Mozart roles. Schäfer also sings modern pieces like Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Boulez's Pli selon pli. Other recordings include songs by Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Ernest Chausson and Claude Debussy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Sch%C3%A4fer
http://www.christine-schaefer.com/

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Matthias Goerne (born March 31, 1967 in Weimar) is a German baritone. He studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Since his opera début at the Salzburg Festival in 1997, Matthias Goerne has appeared on opera stages worldwide with carefully chosen roles. He has recently completed the recording of a series of selected Schubert songs on 12 CDs for harmonia mundi (The Goerne/Schubert Edition) with eminent pianists. His latest recordings of Brahms songs with Christoph Eschenbach and of Mahler songs with the BBC Symphony have received rave reviews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Goerne
http://www.matthiasgoerne.com/

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