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Recordings & Discussions of Other Vocal Works: Main Page | Motets BWV 225-231 | Mass in B minor BWV 232 | Missae Breves & Sanctus BWV 233-242 | Magnificat BWV 243 | Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 | Johannes-Passion BWV 245 | Lukas-Passion BWV 246 | Markus-Passion BWV 247 | Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 | Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 | Chorales BWV 250-438 | Geistliche Lieder BWV 439-507 | AMN BWV 508-523 | Quodlibet BWV 524 | Aria BWV 1127 | Motet BWV 1165=Anh 159

Matthäus-Passion BWV 244

Conducted by Wolfgang Gönnenwein


V-3

Matthäus-Passion BWV 244

Wolfgang Gönnenwein

Süddeutscher Madrigalchor & Consortium musicum

Tenor [Evangelist, 2nd Witness]: Theo Altmeyer; Bass [Jesus]: Franz Crass; Soprano [Arias]: Teresa Zylis-Gara; Alto [Arias]: Julia Hamari; Tenor [Arias]: Nicolai Gedda; Bass [Arias]: Hermann Prey; Bass [Petrus, High Priest, Pilatus]: Hans Sotin; Bass [Judas]: Siegfried Härtel; Soprano [Pilatus' wife]: Noor Leertouwer; Soprano [1st Maid]: Liselotte Renner; Alto [2nd Maid]: Susanne Dürr; Alto [1st Witness]: Vera Scherr

EMI

May-Jun 1968

3-CD / TT: 196:33



Santu De Silva (Archimedes) wrote (November 27, 2000):
Does anyone know of an outfit called the South German Madrigal Choir (or something like that) conducted by Wolfgang Gönnenwein (insert your own umlauts, please), and their recording of the SMP?

I own their Haydn: Creation (Die Hopfung) and it is my favorite version on VOX. I also heard their SMP on LP in the 1970's in a public library, and I think I would
like to have a CD of that recording.

The SMP's I own are from John Eliot Gardiner &Co (Archiv), a Harnoncourt, and, of course, Klemperer. I have given my Klemperer away. It is TOO too massive for my tastes. I appreciate the approach: the large-scale, very public attitude towards
meditation on the Passion. I grew up with it. I just think that Klemperer is a little too extreme.

Gardiner, on the other hand, is a little too callous, flippant, fatuous. I have often said that he seems to rush through the arias to get to the choruses just so they can show off
there. I mean, they certainly do a wonderful job of the choruses. But listening to Bach choruses sung by the Monteverdi Choir is like painting a nativity scene with the Madonna in a dry-cleaned, pressed and starched new outfit. (my analogies seem to lean heavily in the direction of couture...why is this? Hmmm...) I'm beginning to appreciate Harnoncourt/Leonard's choral recordings more as I grow older. There's a rude honesty in their singing that makes me imagine that it is Bach's own boys singing. (Of course, even they (Tölzer / Weiner Singerknaben) sing too well, I imagine...)

I think, perhaps, the Harnoncourt / Leonard recordings come closest to my ideal for Bach choral music (though Gardiner comes close when he's having a bad day). Sometimes I think Gardiner's crew are robots, but other times they are just wonderful. <sigh>

Perhaps it is a matter of the intrinsic perfection of Bach's music and how it fights against too-perfect execution. Too-perfect execution of Bach often grates on my nerves. The most perfect I can stand is perhaps Gould's piano playing. That mechanical, relentless, fast performance, so despised by some, is okay with me. But a slightly rough performance -especially of vocal music- seems to set off the
perfection of the writing.

Philip Peters wrote (November 27, 2000):
< Santu De Silva wrote: Does anyone know of an outfit called the South German Madrigal Choir (or something like that) conducted by Wolfgang Gonnenwein (insert your own umlauts, please), and their recording of the SMP? >
Mandatory non-HIP SMP! This is, I take it, the 1969 recording with Altmeyer, Hamari, Sotin a.o.? I can't remember the choir off the top of my head but as far as I know there is only one SMP by Gönnenwein and it's very good indeed.

< (snip) The SMP's I own are from John Eliot Gardiner &Co (Archiv), a Harnoncourt, and, of course, Klemperer. I have given my Klemperer away. It is TOO too massive for my tastes. I appreciate the approach: the large-scale, very public attitude towards meditation on the Passion. I grew up with it. I just think that Klemperer is a little too extreme. >
Gönnenwein is lighter but if I had to choose.....

< (snip) I think, perhaps, the Harnoncourt / Leonard recordings come closest to my ideal for Bach choral music (though Gardiner comes close when he's having a bad day). Sometimes I think Gardiner's crew are robots, but other times they are just wonderful. <sigh> >
Did you try the second Herreweghe?

Teri Noel Towe wrote (November 27, 2000):
< Santu De Silva wrote: Does anyone know of an outfit called the South German Madrigal Choir (or something like that) conducted by Wolfgang Gonnenwein (insert your own umlauts, please), and their recording of the SMP >
Yes.

The Gönnenwein performance (The umlaut is over the "o".), which was issued in the USA on EMI Angel, dates from the late 1960's. The details on the performing forces may be found in my critical discography of the "St. Matthew Passion", which is included in Alan Blyth's anthology "Choral Music on Records", which was published by Cambridge University Press about ten years ago.

I haven't listened to the performance, which was never one I particularly enjoyed, since I had to re-audition it for that critical discography. I recall, however, that the Evangelist's recitatives were all sung at a ponderous tempo. The effect was Bach in cement overshoes.

Wolfgang Gönnenwein: Short Biography | Süddeutscher Madrigalchor | Recordings: Part 1 | Part 2 | BWV 244 - Gönnenwein
Cantate Label:
Recordings | General Discussions

Matthäus-Passion BWV 244: Details
Complete Recordings: 1900-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-2029
Recordings of Individual Movements: 1900-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-2029
General Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | BWV 244a | BWV 244b
Systemetic Discussions: Part 1: Mvts. 1-8 | Part 2: Mvts. 9-20 | Part 3: Mvts. 21-29 | Part 4: Mvts. 30-40 | Part 5: Mvts. 41-50 | Part 6: Mvts. 51-57 | Part 7: Mvts. 58-63b | Part 8: Mvts. 63c-68 | Part 9: Role of the Evangelist
Individual Recordings: BWV 244 - L. Bernstein | BWV 244 - G.C. Biller | BWV 244 - F. Brüggen | BWV 244 - J. Butt | BWV 244 - R. Chailly | BWV 244 - S. Cleobury | BWV 244 - J. Daus | BWV 244 - D. Fasolis | BWV 244 - W. Furtwängler | BWV 244 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 244 - W. Gönnenwein | BWV 244 - P. Goodwin | BWV 244 - E.z. Guttenberg | BWV 244 - N. Harnoncourt | BWV 244 - P. Herreweghe | BWV 244 - R. Jacques | BWV 244 - H.v. Karajan | BWV 244 - O. Klemperer | BWV 244 - T. Koopman | BWV 244 - S. Koussevitzky | BWV 244 - S. Kuijken | BWV 244 - F. Lehmann | BWV 244 - G. Leonhardt | BWV 244 - P.J. Leusink | BWV 244 - E.&R. Mauersberger | BWV 244 - H. Max | BWV 244 - P. McCreesh | BWV 244 - W. Mengelberg | BWV 244 - K. Münchinger | BWV 244 - R. Norrington | BWV 244 - G. Oberfrank | BWV 244 - S. Ozawa | BWV 244 - A. Parrott | BWV 244 - G. Ramin | BWV 244 - S. Rattle | BWV 244 - K. Richter | BWV 244 - H. Rilling | BWV 244 - H.J. Rotzsch | BWV 244 - H. Scherchen | BWV 244 - G. Solti | BWV 244 - C. Spering | BWV 244 - M. Suzuki | BWV 244 - J.v. Veldhoven | BWV 244 - B. Walter | BWV 244 - F. Werner | BWV 244 - M. Wöldike
Articles: Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244 [T.N. Towe] | Two Easter St. Matthew Passions (Plus One) [U. Golomb] | St. Matthew Passion from Harnoncourt [D. Satz] | The Passion according to Saint Matthew BWV 244 [J. Rifkin] | The Relationship between BWV 244a (Trauermusik) and BWV 244b (SMP Frühfassung) [T. Braatz] | Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 - Early History (A Selective, Annotated Bibliography) [W. Hoffman] | Spiritual Sources of Bach's St. Matthew Passion [W. Hoffman] | Bach and the "Great Passion" [D.G. Lebut Jr.] | The Genesis of Bach's `Great Passion': 1724-29 [W. Hoffman] | Early Performances of Bach's SMP [T. Braatz]


Recordings & Discussions of Other Vocal Works: Main Page | Motets BWV 225-231 | Mass in B minor BWV 232 | Missae Breves & Sanctus BWV 233-242 | Magnificat BWV 243 | Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 | Johannes-Passion BWV 245 | Lukas-Passion BWV 246 | Markus-Passion BWV 247 | Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 | Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 | Chorales BWV 250-438 | Geistliche Lieder BWV 439-507 | AMN BWV 508-523 | Quodlibet BWV 524 | Aria BWV 1127 | Motet BWV 1165=Anh 159




 

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