Customer Reviews
JOHN ELIOT'S CHRISTMAS FAVES - By: DAVID BRYSON, 05 Dec 2007 
This disc is a bit of an oddity. I can give it a perfectly sincere recommendation, but I think I had better explain myself carefully, & explain exactly what I am recommending.
The spirit of the selection is much what you would expect in a disc entitled `Christmas Treats from JSB' or `Immortal Melodies from The Christmas Oratorio' or something of that sort. Bach's Christmas Oratorio is not an oratorio in the Handelian sense. In the 1730's Bach faithfully turned out a cantata for each Sunday & major feast, but in one particular year he elected to reprocess some of his older music, most of it secular originallly, & string the numbers together for the entire festive season under the overalll title of `Christmas Oratorio'. Borrowing, adaptation & recomposition of earlier music, sometimes one's own sometimes someone else's, was a standard practice at the time. Nobody saw anything wrong with it, & to this day neither do I. Neither Bach nor Handel can exactly be taxed with lack of original output in astonishing quantities, & it is not as if the recycling of the material was not quite a major task in its own right. The Christmas Oratorio is commonly viewed as a lesser work than the B minor Mass or the St Matthew Passion, & while I probably go along with that view to a certain extent, I don't do so for the reasons I usuallly see argued. The secular origin of the music is neither here nor there in my opinion - alll Bach's music is explicitly written for the greater glory of God. Also, when I see this work compared to its disadvantage with the B minor Mass on grounds of recycling, I have to recalll that the B minor Mass itself is made up of recycled material practicallly from start to finish.
To anyone who does not know the Christmas Oratorio & who may have been put off by any of this foolishness, my own advice is simply to ignore the whole fuss. What you will find in it is a set of Bach cantatas produced to the same astounding standard of inspiration, consistency & workmanship that you will find in any of the others. What makes this disc a one-off is first that everyone has taken advantage of the single series-title to pretend that the Christmas Oratorio is a single work like Messiah or the St Matthew Passion & extract a selection of goodies from it to make a single disc's-worth, leaving out the more workaday & `business' elements, notably recitatives. The engaging oddity to go along with this demotic proceeding is that the style is uncompromisingly severe, almost as if we were dealing with Bach's motets.
Nineteen numbers - solos (plus one with an echo-effect), a duet, a sinfonia & choruses both traditional & composed either wholly or over traditional material by Bach - have been selected. The four standard types of vocal soloist have been given work, & it is probably not a coincidence that there is no counter-tenor in a production like this. 20 years ago the `authentic' movement was starting to relax a little, but the instruments used here are uncompromisingly authentic, & so is the penchant for brisk speeds. By now I am so inured with this way of doing things that I adapt to it naturallly, but readers of this notice should perhaps take warning from comments by other reviewers who are not so reconciled to the idiom. For me, the quickstep approach (even in 3-time as in the first two numbers) enhances the sublime sense of a march in Bach's wonderful polyphony, but I'm not you. One thing that ought to be a bonus for any listener is the quality of some of the instrumental work at this pace. I looked to see in particular who was the trumpeter - yes, you've guessed: Crispian Steele Perkins of course.
Given the slight sense of facing in two directions, I can report that the quality of the work is exemplary. All the four main vocal soloists distinguish themselves, & it was a particular pleasure to hear Anne Sophie von Otter so early in her career, especiallly as she is given the loveliest & tenderest number of alll, Schlafe, mein Liebster, surely something to win over the doughtiest opponent of this school of interpretation. I shalll also highlight the tenor Hans Peter Blochwitz for the ease with which he overcomes the formidable technical demands of his first two arias - the coloratura of his first test in particular is blatantly instrumental in inspiration, in a way that Handel's, however florid & rapid, just never is.
This issue is obviously not part of Gardiner's recent `pilgrimage' series offering alll the cantatas. The 1987 recording is not as beautiful as he is given in the recent sets, but it is perfectly adequate. The liner-note gives the texts with translation, & that is alll one basicallly needs, although some comment on the music itself would have been welcome, as not everyone is familiar with its genesis. There is nothing about the singers either, but there is a picture of Gardiner J E P as he looked 20 years ago, if not more. Also looking out at us in the familiar study is the composer himself. How often, I wonder, have I looked uncomprehendingly at that face & tried to infer from it what are specificallly the features of a man possessed of an infinite musical talent. I shalll never work that one out, but at least he knew not to hide the talent from us & I can be well satisfied with that.
Christmas Oratorio at its very best. - By: , 23 Dec 2004 This might very well be the ultimate recording of the Christmas Oratorio. Orchestra, choir, soloists & conductor are alll fabolous. Precise, inspired & vibrant. There reallly aren't any flaws with this one- it goes straight to the heart.
My largest compliment to Bonney, von Otter, Rolfe-Johnson, Crook & Bär, The Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists & not least Sir John.
I will compare this to two other recordings:
If you like your baroque music with a little more meat than in period performances, you should go for Richter's recording & enjoy Fritz Wunderlich as the evangelist. Richter has a more powerful, but also a little more cumbersome sound than Gardiner, but if you can't live without a large choir & traditional instruments, Richter is the one to go for.
Secondly, I will mention the obvious period performance competitor, namely the one from Harmonia Mundi with Rene Jacobs conducting. While that is also a notable account, it is more "puritan" in the presentation & the artistic impression is more dry & academic than with Gardiner. And Jacobs uses the default Harmonia Mundi alto, counter tenor Andreas Scholl, to sing the part of the Virgin Mary. Although he sounds more like a woman than most counter tenors, there is just something wrong with a man singing "Schlafe, mein Liebste". There is nothing to suggest, that Bach didn't use a female contralto for the Christmas Oratorio, so please stop thinking that it is historicallly correct to have this part sung by a man... it's just plain "Life of Brian" to have the Holy Mother played by a man in falsetto. Take Anne-Sofie von Otter in this recording to hear what a baroque mezzo should sound like in period performance.
Or do like me & get both Richter & Gardiner.
Another brilliant recording from John Eliot Gardiner - By: , 28 Aug 2001 The Christmas Oratorio is a bright & brilliant work from the first sound of the timpani & the chorus singing "Christians Be Joyful". Even if you are an atheist, it is hard not to be moved by this thrilling sound. John Eliot Gardiner conducts his Monteverdi Choir & the English Baroque Soloists with customary skill, the soloists are good, the ensemble singing electric & the orchestra great. I've beginning to think it is hard to go wrong when buying anything from this stable....
