St. John Passion for the coronavirus season

Your ticket to the German classical music festival scene: Concert Hour has the picks of the season — from the Schwetzingen Festival to the Bayreuth Festival and the Beethovenfest in Bonn, two hours of music updated regularly.

Along with host Rick Fulker, the musicians themselves are on hand to give their insights into the events and the music.

This time we take you to the Bach city, Leipzig, for an amazing performance that combines the authentic and the virtual, the big statement and the intimate setting.

Part one:

In a normal year, about 70,000 visitors come to Leipzig for the Bachfest, 40% of them from outside Germany — all wanting to hear the music of Bach at the location where he lived and worked from 1723 until 1750. For this special event of the Bachfest on April 10, 2020, the authentic site was exploited by placing the three performers at Bach’s grave in the altar space of St. Thomas’ church.  

The tiny musical setting — just three musicians — was in conformity with social distancing and hygiene regulations in April, when new COVID-19 infections were spiking in Germany.

Before the performance on Good Friday, five choirs were invited to join in the project and send in recordings. These too were done strictly in accordance with social distancing rules, each chorister recording him or herself at home and the results later mixed. The virtual choirs are located in Malaysia, Switzerland, Canada and Leipzig. 

The incredible technical achievement was held together by the Icelandic tenor Benedikt Kristjansson, who did the arrangement, set the tempo for the remote recordings — and to top it all off, sings all the major roles: the Evangelist, Jesus, Pontius Pilate and Peter. The vocal achievement in itself is nearly unimaginable.

Kristjansson is accompanied by Elina Albach at the harpsichord and organ and Philipp Lamprecht with an array of percussion instruments; having participated in the adaptation, the two of them actually fill in for a whole orchestra. 

Steven Walter will bring his ideas to the Beethovenfest in Bonn, beginning officially as director in 2022

The idea for this unique enterprise came from Steven Walter, head of the Podium Esslingen festival and the future director of the Beethovenfest Bonn. Though normally critical of music streamings, Walter spoke of a global presence in this project: “It was amazing,” he said. “I was watching on the cell phone, and it was just crazy how many people were taking part. It was an empty church, just three people onstage and thousands of people in the virtual space. That created a real presence and magical atmosphere, also in the hall. I think that is something one can’t replicate easily.”

Anon.
Tristis est anima mea (My Soul is Sad) 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 
St. John Passion, BWV 245 part one
adapted for tenor, harpsichord, organ and percussion by Philipp Lamprecht, Elina Albach and Benedikt Kristjansson 

performed by: 
Philipp Lamprecht, percussion
Elina Albach, harpsichord and organ
Benedikt Kristjansson, tenor 
Ottawa Bach Choir
J.S. Bach Foundation, St. Gallen Switzerland 
Members of the St. Thomas Boy Choir Leipzig
Isabel Meyer-Kalis, soprano
Julia Sophie Wagner, soprano
David Erler, male alto 
Wolfram Lattke, tenor
Gotthold Schwarz, bass 
Hartmut Becker, cello
Mechthild Winter, organ
Gotthold Schwarz, conductor
Recorded by Central German Radio (MDR) in St. Thomas’ Church Leipzig on April 10, 2020. 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 
Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202 (Dissipate, you troublesome shadows) 
Viola Blache, soprano
Camerata Bachiensis 
Recorded by Central German Radio (MDR) in St. Thomas’ Church Leipzig on June 21, 2020.

The hallowed altarspace in St. Thomas’ Church

Part two:

The originator of this project, Steven Walter, explained that he likes to work creatively with classical scores: “Ironically, in theater, it’s very normal. People do all kind of things with a Shakespeare play.”

But here, Walter was inspired by a singular musician. “I had heard the tenor Benedikt Kristjansson sing in a normal performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in 2017, and for the first time, the Evangelist character made perfect sense to me. He has a way of singing it as though he’s a troubadour. So we had the idea to build a format around the Evangelist. And Benedikt is a pretty crazy guy. He just said, ‘Yeah, I can sing all those arias as well.’ He has this incredible range.”
 
This chamber music version of Bach’s St. John Passion took Germany’s Opus Klassik Award as “most innovative concert of the year.” 

Streamed on Good Friday 2020, the performance reached a massive audience.

Bachfest Leipzig Director Michael Maul confirmed: “Thousands of commentaries came in from viewers describing their feelings in real time. Some said we really saved their Good Friday. Many called it the most moving musical performance they’d ever experienced. Some had been skeptical — St. John’s Passion for only three performers? How could that possibly work? One user from the US told us about how he sat down to the performance intending to hate it — but soon came to love it, tears coming to his eyes — and felt that this is not only a wonderful performance but a very special document of a moment in time.”

Michael Maul heads the Bachfest

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 
St. John Passion, BWV 245 part two
adapted for tenor, harpsichord, organ and percussion by Philipp Lamprecht, Elina Albach and Benedikt Kristjansson 

performers: see above 

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/st-john-passion-for-the-coronavirus-season/a-51331754?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf