Episode 317. Big Baroque Christmas
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Sometimes when I look back on past episodes of Countermelody, I surprise myself with how good they were, even in the early days when I was still trying to figure everything out. This episode, first posted as a bonus episode five years ago is a good example of that. Earlier that season I had coined the term “Full-Figured Baroque” to describe the “old-fashioned” style of Baroque performance that I personally prefer to what one currently hears in churches and concert halls around the world and on recordings. This episode was devoted to Baroque music composed specifically for the Christmas season, recorded between 1940 and 1992, and performed in deliciously non-period style, replete with deliberate tempi, judiciously applied vibrato, and stately ritardandi. There is a special focus on the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium and assorted cantatas for the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany season. Singers include Janet Baker, Tom Krause, Jerry Hadley, Margaret Marshall, Francisco Araiza, Russell Oberlin, Helen Watts, William Warfield, John Shirley-Quirk, Peter Schreier, Heather Harper, Shirley Verrett, Edith Mathis, Hermann Prey, Marga Höffgen, Agnes Giebel, Kurt Equiluz, Florence Quivar, Aksel Schiøtz, Kirsten Flagstad, Christa Ludwig, Edith Mathis, Brigitte Fassbaender. Ernst Haefliger, Jennifer Vyvyan, Anna Reynolds, Judith Blegen, Fritz Wunderlich, Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier, and Gundula Janowitz. Conductors include Neville Marriner, Raymond Leppard, Colin Davis, Karl Richter, Lorin Maazel, Helmut Winschermann, Vittorio Negri, Karl Münchinger, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Eugene Ormandy, Adrian Boult, Andrew Davis, and Eugen Jochum, among others. Don’t miss out on this full-figured Christmas treat!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Traditional Corsican, arr. François Agostini: Campane di Natale. Martha Angelici [1956]
From Messiah (George Frideric Handel):
Comfort ye, my people. Aksel Schiøtz, Mogens Wöldike, Det Unge Tonekunstnerselskabs Orkester [1940]
The voice of him… Ev’ry valley. Jerry Hadley, Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields [live Dublin 1992]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Bereite dich, Zion (Weihnachts-Oratorium, BWV 248). Janet Baker, Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin in the Fields [1976]
Antonio Vivaldi: Et exsultavit (Magnificat, R. 611). Margaret Marshall, Vittorio Negri, English Chamber Orchestra [1980]
From Magnificat, BWV 243 (Johann Sebastian Bach):
Quia fecit mihi magna. Tom Krause, Karl Münchinger, Stutgarter Kammerorchester [1969]
Deposuit potentes. Francisco Araiza, Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker [live Silvesterkonzert 1984]
Esurientes implevit bonis. Russell Oberlin, Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic [1959]
From Messiah (George Frideric Handel):
O thou that tellest good tidings. Florence Quivar, Andrew Davis, Toronto Symphony Orchestra [1987]
But who may abide the day of his coming. William Warfield, Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra [1959]; Helen Watts, Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra [1966]
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth. John Shirley-Quirk, Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra [1966]
The people that walked in darkness. John Shirley-Quirk, Raymond Leppard, English Chamber Orchestra [1976]
Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion. Jennifer Vyvyan, Adrian Boult, London Phlharmonic Orchestra [1954]; Heather Harper, Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra [1966]; Judith Blegen, Richard Westenburg, Musica Sacra [1981]
He shall feed his flock… Come unto him. Kirsten Flagstad, Adrian Boult, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1957]
From various Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Cantatas (Johann Sebastian Bach):
Gloria Patri et Filio (Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191). Ileana Cotrubas, Kurt Equiluz; Helmut Winschermann, Deutsche Bachsolisten [1971]
Herr, der du stark und mächtig bist (Meine Seel’ erhebt den Herren, BWV 10). Edith Mathis, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1976]
Nimm mich dir (Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65). Ernst Haefliger, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1968]
Süßer Trost (Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151). Agnes Giebel, Helmut Winschermann, Deutsche Bachsolisten [1968]
Nun verschwinden alle Plagen (Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32). Elly Ameling, Hermann Prey, Helmut Winschermann, Deutsche Bachsolisten [1970]
Ruft und fleht den Himmel an (Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63). Anna Reynolds, Peter Schreier, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1972]
From Weihnachts-Oratorium, BWV 248 (Johann Sebastian Bach):
Großer Herr und starker König. Jorma Hynninen, Carole Dawn Reinhart, Marinus Voorberg, Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra [1982]
Schlafe, mein Liebster. Marga Höffgen, Kurt Thomas, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig [1959]; Shirley Verrett, Lorin Maazel [live Rome, 1968]; Brigitte Fassbaender, Eugen Jochum, Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks [1973]
Frohe Hirten, eilt, ach eilet. Fritz Wunderlich, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1965]
Schliesse, mein Herze. Christa Ludwig, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1965]
Flößt, mein Heiland. Gundula Janowitz, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1965]
Ach, wann wird die Zeit erscheinen. Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Solisten [1965]
Alessandro Scarlatti: Toccò la prima sorte (Cantata pastorale per la nascità di Nostro Signore). Janet Baker, Raymond Leppard, English Chamber Orchestra [1969]