In 1954, Helmuth Rilling created the Gaechinger Cantorey, vocal and instrumental ensembles dedicated to the interpretation of the music of Johann Sebastian, especially after the founding of the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart and, even more so, that of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, in 1981. , under whose tutelage the Gaechingers remained. Since 2016, the director of these formations is Hans-Christoph Rademann, who has given them a 180 degree turn. Gone, far behind, are those anodyne and insubstantial six decades of Rilling, because it did not take Rademann much time to turn the Gaechinger into a benchmark for the music of the Kantor . This is attested by the recordings that have appeared in the last five years: the Christmas Oratorio , the fourth version of thePassion according to San Juan and a couple of cantata records.
Now it is the turn of one of the greatest works in history: the Saint Matthew Passion , recorded during the month of November 2020 (the truth is that they have been in a hurry to edit and publish it). Rademann employs two independent choirs with thirteen singers each (4/3/3/3), and two large orchestras with an equal number of instrumentalists. As concertmasters of each orchestra are Nadja Zwiener (leader of The English Concert) and the emerging Jonas Zschenderlein (4 Times Baroque, as well as other newly minted formations).
Don't look for flashy names in the vocal cast, except for veteran British bass Peter Harvey (Voice of Christ) and Croatian bass Kresimir Strazanac (arias and Pilatos), a regular contributor to the Collegium Vocale Gent and the Collegium 1704. The singers, up to a total of fifteen, they are the choristers themselves (following the Bachian tradition), with the tenor Patrick Grahl as Evangelista, the bass Florian Schmitt as Judas and the bass Andrey Akhmekov as Pedro. The Spanish soprano Lore Agustí assumes the role of Second servant.
The soprano Schicketanz and, above all, the mezzo-soprano Marie Henriette Reinhold are really splendid. Reinhold already surprises with her first intervention, the aria Buss und Reu , which she sings with absolute and moving delicacy, and reaches something close to nirvana in Erbarme dich and, above all, in Können Tränen meiner Wangen . Schicketanz confidently addresses all of her interventions and shows her beautiful voice in Ich will dir mein Herze schenken . Tenor Benedikt Kristjánsson sweetly sings the aria – with choir accompaniment – Ich will bei meinen Jesu wachen . Splendid Strazanac in Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder and in the aria with obligatory viola da gambaKomm, süsses Kreuz , but above all in the imploring Mache dich, mein Herze, rein.
Orchestra and choir, under the precise direction of Rademann (let's not forget: one of the great world experts in the music of the Kantor ), offer very high performance. We are, in short, before a round Passion according to Saint Matthew.
