BACH: ST MATTHEW PASSION - ARI

It is certain that this version of the St Matthew Passion has been prepared with the greatest thought, care and thoroughness... Any account of this vast work must depend in the end on the conductor; but next to him in importance come the aria soloists—yes, even more than she Evangelist and Jesus... Arleen Auger sings well, though her voice sounds small—certainly in comparison with the mezzo Julia Hamari. Whether she is microphonically not placed to advantage I do not know, of course. Still, she sings her arias agreeably enough, with pure tone. Miss Hamari is now well-known, so it is enough to say that she uses her fine voice generously—every aria is a joy. The tenor, Aldo Baldin, is variable; suitably agitated in his aria, No. 10, not quite mellifluous enough in "I would beside my Lord" (I give the familiar English words since most readers may be armed only with a Novello vocal score); then really fine in No. 41 (the often cut "Endure, endure!"). The bass is Philippe Huttenlocher whom I have recently praised highly but here, fine voice as he has, I am slightly disappointed. In his first aria he adopts what I can only call a 'dramatic' kind of start to his words, a style that is not suited to the aria. He also takes very audible breaths—but that may be due to close placing near a microphone. (Much of the solo singing is closely recorded but I do not find it too much so and I noticed those snatched gasps for breath only from him.) Still, he has, as I say, a fine voice and the first of my complaints does not go beyond his first aria for he sounds splendid later on.

...But in the end all depends on the conductor and whether his approach accords with how you think the work should be done—and, goodness knows, there are enough different ways of doing it. I cannot 'take' Klemperer in his HMV recording, for instance, who for all his insight and deep spirituality is often intolerably slow (the first chorus must be easily the slowest performance on record and the chorales likewise—one chord seems to be an age following its predecessor). Rifling, on the contrary, is the lightest and swiftest of all those mentioned above in the first chorus, while his chorales are straightforward, seldom with any dynamic variation, till the end of the story where he does relent a little. The long, elaborate chorale setting at the end of Part I really is tiring to the ears, so relentlessly and continuously loudly does he press on. Yet this is not to deny the sincerity of Rilling's approach—it merely describes how he likes his choral work, for you will notice that I have not criticized his treatment of the rest of the score. The chorus in itself is first-rate, especially in the crowd choruses, with clear lines and vital attack.

...The whole issue ranks with the best. I think that I might choose the not dissimilar Münchinger/Decca set if only for the incomparable Evangelist of Sir Peter Pears. But this new CBS issue deserves the highest praise for everybody concerned.

-- Gramophone [12/1978, reviewing the LP release of the complete version of Rilling's St. Matthew Passion]