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Christ Church Cathedral
March 17, 2006
This was the third time in the past fifteen years that CapriCCio has tackled the St. John Passion but the ensemble rolled out a surprise on this occasion. The string players were sporting brand new baroque bows. All but one, at any rate: one of the violinists sneaked in a Tourte bow. (Martin Bonham, the first cellist, had the complete package: baroque bow and baroque cello.)
I couldn't figure it out. Everywhere I go in Victoria lately, I run into baroque bows. I wondered where they were all coming from. So I asked. Apparently, they are being made in China and players can pick them up for a C note. They're apparently not the greatest bows ever made, but they are a big step forward for an ensemble that is looking for a baroque sound.
In other steps in the direction of a baroque orchestra, the ensemble included a lute (unfortunately, due to the acoustics of Christ Church, I scarcely heard a note of it all evening) and a viola da gamba (of which more, anon). Alas, Victoria is at home to no viola d'amore players. The viola d'amore solos in "Betrachte, meine Seel" and "Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken were played on violins.
The evening did not get off to an auspicious start. Michael Gormley began by announcing that Peter Butterfield, who was to have sung the role of the Evangelist, had been scratched. Fortunately his brother Christopher was able to step in at the last moment. Ken Lavigne came in at 6:30, an hour before the performance began, to rehearse the tenor arias, but he did a creditable job.
Given that Christopher Butterfield stepped in at the very last moment, it would be ungenerous to scrutinise his performance too carefully. Suffice it to say that the tessitura of this part is often stratospherically high and this caused some difficulties. Still, Butterfield did some really nice things. For example, the moment when Barabbas is set free ("Barrabas aber war ein Mörder") was rendered with effective pathos.
The other principal soloists were Nathaniel Watson, baritone, Sarah Fryer, mezzo and Allison Arends, soprano. Watson and Fryer are both experienced singers, well versed in the ways of baroque music and they turned in fine performances. Arends is a recent UVic graduate. Possessed of a pleasant lyric soprano voice, she has excellent diction and a good German. She is definitely a singer worth watching.
The real star of the evening was the choir. From the very first chorus, "Herr, unser Herrscher", it was evident that the choir had been well prepared. The plaintive, repeated call of "Herr, Herr" was extremely effective. The high standard set in this first piece was maintained throughout the evening. The ensemble was excellent and intonation very good. They displayed a vibrant sense of rhythm, sensitive attention to dynamics and (essential to baroque performance, and particularly Bach's counterpoint) all of the parts were quite distinct.
It was a great pleasure to see choir respond with such alacrity to Gormley's sensitive direction. Gormley displayed a real feel for the baroque style.
Besides the first chorus, the chorale "Wer hat dich so geschlage" deserves to be singled out. The choir succeeded brilliantly in conveying a sense of nervous uncertainty.
To my mind, one of the highlights of the evening was the tenor aria "Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken" (despite the conspicuous absence of violas d'amore). The dramatic impact of this aria was greatly enhanced by the viola da gamba playing of Martin Bonham. His instrument, built in Leipzig in 1720, has a big, beautiful sound. It would be nice to think that this very instrument was used in a performance of the St. John Passion directed by Bach himself. It is certainly possible.
It is hard to find anything too critical to say about this performance. Of course, one could complain about the uncertain acoustics of the Cathedral - and I heard the usual litany. CapriCCio might want to think about having future performances at Alix Goolden Hall.
If I had one other, it would be that the modern woodwinds sounded a little out of place in such a historically informed performance. The next step in the evolution of baroque playing in Victoria should be the recruitment of some historical woodwinds. Which is not to say that the wind playing wasn't lovely and free of vibrato. Particular mention should be made of the oboe da caccia in "Zerfließe, mein Herze".
Readers of this website will recall my enthusiasm about Peter Smith's harpsichord playing as a member of the West Coast Consort on March 5th. This evening he turned in another fine performance as a continuo player, this time playing organ.
Given the last minute changes in the personnel, this performance might have been a bit of train wreck, but it wasn't - far from it. CapriCCio has grown into a fine choir and Gormley got good results from it, the orchestra and the soloists.
MiV HomeLast modified: Sat Mar 18 11:47:09 PST 2006