Bernard Haitink (1929-2021) was 79 when he received his first St. Matthew Passion conducted. Hartmut Haenchen (former chief of the National Opera) waited until this year, and is 83. For the last St. Matthew Passion by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under its chief conductor, we have to go back to 1999, when Riccardo Chailly tried it once. So it is historic in any case that Klaus Mäkelä, just thirty and only really starting next year as the new chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, immediately sinks his teeth into the holiest house of the repertoire. Is that brave? Overconfident? Or does it show the enthusiasm of a self-confident conductor?
In Mäkelä’s case: the latter. His first performance of Bruckners Eighth Symphony – another black spot in the orchestral repertoire – was impressive last month and left room for maturation. For Mäkelä’s first Matthäus The same was true, as it turned out on Friday. There is no shortage of beautiful, dramatic and original moments. Newcomer tension cast a shadow over the spiritual tranquility of the whole. But why shouldn’t a conductor grow visibly, taking the audience along in that pilgrimage? Discovering things together is fun and exciting. Mäkelä also immediately sweeps through the repertoire on his musical journey of discovery.
Athletic stance
It was that mindset that you heard on Friday evening in the Concertgebouw in the loud welcome applause from the sold-out Main Hall. Mäkelä is looking forward to the repertoire, and Amsterdam is looking forward to Mäkelä. But yes, Bachs Matthäus is as sacred in the Netherlands as Notre-Dame in France. You could see Mäkelä’s tension in the athletic attitude with which he began the opening chorus ‘Kommt, ihr Töchter, half mir complaints’. Ready for the start! It sounded beautiful, by the way, in a pleasant, dancing tempo. Mäkelä, also trained as a cellist, knows well how to spin a melody into a horizon. What was missing: exclamation marks.
Bach composed the Matthäus for two orchestras (here: twenty musicians per group) and two choirs (of twice sixteen singers), between whom existential questions – ‘Who!?’, ‘What!?’ – bounce back and forth. The children’s choir floats ethereally above. Bach immediately drives his passion stakes into the ground. But those essential questions passed away without a hitch here, because all attention was focused on the music. Sometimes you could also hear Mäkelä switching gears in between: oh no, it’s better to be a little faster/slower. That damaged the peace.
These are details, countless of which you can highlight in a piece of two hours and 45 minutes. The chorales (chorals, congregational singing) sounded mostly casual in a smooth approach. The penitential tenderness of ‘Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen’ – after Peter’s denial and the beloved aria ‘Erbarme dich’ – therefore lacked glow. But ‘Wenn ich einmal divorce’, sung here whisper-softly unaccompanied, was actually a highlight.
Mäkelä during the performance Friday evening.
Photo Eduardus Lee
Unearthly beautiful
Nothing but good things about the Dutch Chamber Choir and the National Children’s Choir. They can dream their notes and you can hear it. The unbalanced selection of soloists did raise questions. The mature bass-baritone of Matthew Brook (1959) lacks the subtleties – comfort, fear, love – that the Christ role requires. Evangelist Maximilian Schmitt needed the first part to warm up. The intonation and articulation of counter Tim Mead (‘Erbarme Dich’, with violin solo by guest concertmaster Daniel Cho) left nothing to be desired. Soprano Julia Lezhneva is increasingly a mezzo in timbre and whether you like that is a matter of taste. But how she soared above the singing woodwinds of the first orchestra in ‘Aus Liebe’ was unearthly beautiful.
All in all: a passion with good ideas and beautiful moments, excellent musicians and plenty of momentum, but with a disappointing cast of soloists and too little rest for deep emotion. We wait. Next year the St. Matthew Passion three hundred years, but the Dutch passion tradition is still very much alive. And the (never decided) search for the ideal implementation is an essential part of that.
Also read
The double-thick St. Matthew Passion guide: Where can you listen this year?
