Eight singers in the choir or a cast of thousands? Arguments will probably continue until the end of time about the ‘correct’ number of singers to use in Bach’s St Matthew Passion. For their performance in the University Church, Sospiri went for a choral headcount of 30, plus a most effective boost from the Hildegard Choir, acting as the ripieno chorus.
Sospiri’s James Martin had long wanted to conduct this work, having first sung in it at the age of seven, he told me in an Oxford Times interview. He unfolded Bach’s multi-layered, opening chorus — surely one of the greatest ever written — at a steady pace, implying the start of an expansive work to come.
Economical in his conducting style, Martin revealed an unfussy way with the music — for a while I longed for a bit more operatic-type drama, but I found his approach grew on me as the evening progressed. Above all, this was an intensely musical interpretation.
The choir, which Bach splits into two choruses in the St Matthew Passion, sounded well balanced, whether singing separately or together.
The hostile crowd scenes were attacked with vigour, and the Sind Blitze (“Have thunder and lightning vanished into the clouds?”) chorus contrasted splendidly with the preceding, gentle So ist mein Jesus aria.
Soloists were all drawn from the choir, and clean, clear expression of the text had obviously been made a priority, with conductor Martin allowing plenty of time for the words to flow across the top of the alert Sospiri Baroque Players, who were strongly supportive throughout.
For me, William Blake’s O Schmerz!, David Lee’s Mein Jesus schweigt, and Claire Eadington’s Erbarme dich worked particularly well.
Meanwhile Jon Stainsby’s light voice (underpinned most effectively by organ and a couple of astringent violins) was just right for Jesus, and Christopher Watson anchored the performance as an increasingly confident Evangelist.
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