Modern symphony orchestras can also perform a beautifully intimate St Matthew Passion

Bach’s Matthew Passion turns out to be a living body with countless forms and appearances with every performance: a play of darkness and light, stillness and popular anger, drama and contemplation. The musical framework is the same, but there are so many ways to dress up the piece and the roles. Therein lies the genius of Bach and lyricist Picander, who mix the account of long-gone events with choruses and arias that are felt by us in the present.

Unfamiliar with the St Matthew Passion? Get to know Bach’s popular masterpiece in our St Matthew guide

In the case of the South Netherlands Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the interpretation of the two central characters – the evangelist (narrator) and Christ – was essentially different. In Maastricht, the narrator Marcel Beekman took the audience along in a current re-experiencing of the suffering story, as if you were actually witnessing a life-and-death struggle in a dream. And the Christ of bass Huub Claessens, who sings from memory, remained – a nice find – omnipresent in his role on stage, even when he was silent; like someone who was no longer of this world. In Rotterdam, evangelist Maximilian Schmitt was no less, but he adopted a more contemplative attitude. And Thomas Stimmel’s Christ appeared when he was needed.

Pity and popular anger

Conductor Peter Dijkstra had greater powers at his disposal in De Doelen than Duncan Ward, who had ten fewer choristers. Dijkstra was therefore able to sculpt slightly sharper contrasts between pity and popular anger. He built in more moments of silence: especially the immense emptiness after the death of Jesus, followed by the whispering beginning of the chorus in ‘Wenn ich einmal soll seperate’ cut into it.

Countertenor Maarten Engeltjes, baritone Thomas Oliemans and soprano Jeanine de Bique stood out in the arias in Rotterdam. Tenor Jan Petryka, on the other hand, was somewhat angular in his approach. In the ‘Erbarme dich’, Engeltjes made you feel the burning of Peter’s bitter tears. The color painting of the voices in the interplay between him, De Bique and the choir in ‘So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen’ and ‘Sind Blitze, sind Donner’ was magisterial.

It took a while for contralto Rosanne van Sandwijk to find her feet at the South Netherlands Philharmonic. Soprano Judith van Wanroij, tenor Linard Vrielink and baritone Raoul Steffani effortlessly transferred the dramatic tension from one character to the other, despite the many role changes. Here the emotional depths of Van Wanroij’s ‘Aus Liebe’ and Steffani’s ‘Komm, süsses Kreuz’ jumped out.

Both ensembles proved that modern symphony orchestras can participate in Bach’s more intimate approach Matthew Passion which has become dominant in recent decades due to performances by ensembles specialized in early music. Both Dijkstra and Ward showed that they were able to create an arc of tension that never let the attention slacken: before you knew it, the pieces were over, without you getting the impression that the music was rushed through.

Matthew fragments? Listen to the podcast with classical music editor Mischa Spel: ‘What makes the St Matthew Passion so special?’

Countertenor Maarten Engeltjes sings the ‘Erbarme dich’ with the Netherlands Bach Society.

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