Bach's Passions, two ways (2nd review)

Bach's Passions are prime candidates for compositions that add dramatic theatrical staging to his musical settings. Jesus's arrest and crucifixion is a dramatic subject, and the Passions contain dialogues and arias that could be staged like scenes from an opera.

But the staging must be designed with taste and a good sense of proportion. James Alexander's staging for the Philadelphia Orchestra's St. Matthew Passion met both criteria.

If you think of the St. Matthew Passion as a series of musical numbers, you probably would have felt the staging was an unnecessary distraction. If you view it as a dramatic work, Alexander's staging intensified the drama without overwhelming the music.

Alexander kept it simple. The costuming consisted of colored sashes draped over some soloists' left shoulders—yellow for Judas, red for Pontius Pilate and his wife. The soloists moved around like actors, instead of standing in one place like oratorio singers, but they remained within the limited space created by a platform that stretched between the conductor's podium and the back of the Verizon Hall stage.

One frozen minute

The lighting effects were similarly unobtrusive. A bank of red and blue lights, attached to the Verizon Hall organ overhead, added a touch of color to the background.

The only major lighting effect took place immediately after the death of Christ. The house lights snapped off, the hall plunged into darkness, and the stage area turned red. The vocalists and musicians froze in place and maintained that tableau for more than a minute.

Bach never planned anything like that, but it was an effective moment. Most people who were there will probably remember it years from now.

The Orchestra maintained a moderate volume, in keeping with our modern understanding of the capabilities of Baroque instruments. The Philadelphia Orchestra's lushness brought out qualities you don't hear in period instrument performances (just as period instruments bring out qualities you don't hear in modern performances).

Narrator's burden

The Orchestra's rising young conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, once again demonstrated his talent for spotting rising young soloists, most notably tenor Andrew Staples. The St. Matthew places heavy demands on the narrator. Staples carried the burdens of the role with a good storytelling style and a natural ease with the informal bits of staging that Reynolds assigned him.

Bass-baritone Andrew Foster Williams contributed a vigorous, athletic presence that galvanized the proceedings every time he embarked on a solo. Concertmaster David Kim and principal flutist Jeffrey Khaner produced beautiful, moving examples of the instrumental obbligatos that add mood and color to most of Bach's arias.

Baroque excitement

The previous night—Good Friday—I took in the St. John Passion presented by Vox Amadeus. Two crucifixions in two days may be a bit much, but the effort paid off.

Valentin Radu's St. John was a typical Vox Amadeus production, performed with period instruments and presented in standard oratorio style, featuring Radu's regular soloists.

The performance took place in the smaller confines of the Perelman Theater, so the soloists could be chosen for their ability to handle Baroque style, without worrying about their ability to fill a large hall.

In the middle section of the aria "The end is near," for example, alto Jody Kidwell produced a series of long trills that generated all the excitement that Baroque ornaments should evoke. In the orchestra, harpsichordist Bronwyn Fitz-Keller and cellist Vivian Barton Dozor once again provided moving Baroque accompaniments to the arias, with Dozor switching between the Baroque cello and the older viola da gamba as required.

Pilate at home

The juxtaposition of these two performances spotlighted the range and depth of Philadelphia's musical resources. The Philadelphia Orchestra's St. Matthew was a major event, staged by a big-time organization that draws its vocalists and musicians from the top of the global talent pool. The Vox Amadeus' St. John provided a good example of the high-quality Baroque performances that Philadelphia's local organizations present several times a season, year after year.

The Orchestra hasn't presented the St. Matthew Passion in 30 years, and Bach's works lie on the fringe of its core repertoire. But specialized organizations like Vox Amadeus and Choral Arts Philadelphia make Bach a constant presence in the city's cultural life. How many cities can offer you the chance to hear both of Bach's surviving Passions back to back?

I came away from the experience with a deeper appreciation for both works. Bach's music heightens the differences between the two Gospels in ways that I might not have noticed had I not heard the two Passions close together.

2,000 years later

Consider the treatment of Pontius Pilate. In the St. Matthew Passion, Pilate is a husband who discusses the situation with his wife. The dialogue adds a touch of domesticity that was heightened by the appealing performances of two young vocalists from the Westminster Symphonic Choir. In the St. John, Pilate is a government official trying to resolve a mess without killing an innocent man, and bass Richard Shapp endowed him with a suitable authority.

What would I have done in Pilate's shoes? Would I have made a different decision had I known people would be singing about it 2,000 years later? Why do I find Pilate more interesting than the central character? Does that tell me something about myself that I should think about?

Any dramatic work that inspires such thoughts must be considered a success. When it comes wrapped in music by J.S. Bach, you can only give thanks for the circumstances that led you to this place at this time.♦


To read another review of the Philadelphia Orchestra concert by Victor L. Schermer, click here.
To read another review by Steve Cohen, click here.