I wonder whether I should be allowed to sing the St Matthew Passion at all, given that I seem to bring illness with me when I perform it. The first time I did so, the Evangelist was unwell and his part had to be spoken. (This wasn’t a huge disaster as it was a ‘come and sing’ performance with organ.) The second time a member of the audience was taken ill and the interval was extended so that medical attention could reach them. This time our soprano and alto soloists were both replaced due to illness. Then the Evangelist, Rufus Müller, got food poisoning and only joined us late on in the final rehearsal. Our other three soloists were fortunately unscathed. I’ll single out the baritone soloist, Dominic Sedgwick, not so much for singing superbly (though he did), but because with a name like that we must share a distant ancestor somewhere along the line.
Actually I’ve done very little JS Bach for several years, apart from a motet a few years ago. This was also the first time I’d sung this work in German. It had been a busy day for me, beginning with an installation service for our new priest-in-charge including among other things two meaty descants and Bruckner’s Christus factus est. After this and a rapid journey by foot and train from Bath to Colston Hall, I needed to keep something in reserve for the concert. For some of the venom necessary in the turba parts, I drew on the description of the crowd in Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary, which I’d read earlier that week.
Our orchestra was Music for Awhile, who brought a fine array of baroque instruments with them; I was at the front, just behind the harpsichord and with a good view of the other instruments. As well as the more common oboi d’amore, there were two oboi da caccia. I don’t think I’d even seen an oboe da caccia before, let alone taken part in a performance with one!
I don’t usually do this, but I’m going to compare this performance directly to the Bath Abbey one. There was something to be said for each of them; the Chorus Angelorum one had the English Chamber Orchestra, a team of big-name soloists, and a small individually selected chorus. The BCS one was in German and had the authentic instruments and the extra power and weight you get from a large chorus.
I’ll end by expressing the hope that I get to do the St John Passion again before too long [I did – the following year]. I have sung this only once, when I was a student. I think that if the St Matthew Passion didn’t exist we’d really recognise the greatness of the St John. I love the angst in its chromatic chorale harmonisations – and for me it has one of the greatest endings of any musical work.