Bach - Christmas Oratorio
Schäfer; Fink; Güra; Finley; Gerhaher
Arnold Schoenberg Choir; Concentus Musicus Wien / Harnoncourt
DHM 88697 112252 (2CD)

Release date November 2007

Sumptuous gold packaging; starry cast; recorded in the warm ambience of Vienna’s Musikverein: could Harnoncourt, that pioneer of the early music movement, produce a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio that fulfilled the marketing department’s dreams? The answer is a resounding yes! Firstly, the booklet essays are worth reading, one giving an academic background to the work while the other - by Harnoncourt himself - discusses the practical performance problems. The choral sound is stunning; rarely have I heard a choir sing with such perfect diction and accomplishment and yet capture the mood of the moment, be it uplifting joy in the opening chorus or warmth and tenderness in the final chorale of the fifth cantata. In the opening chorus of that fifth cantata, Harnoncourt obtains a percussive attack from the strings that matches the crispness and clarity of the singing; but he is equally able to relax and indulge in more lyrical music-making in the contrasting middle section. Werner Güra is an excellent Evangelist, at home in both the more conversational and the more dramatic recitatives. His arias are also very fine, showing an evident zest for the music in the fourth cantata that is entirely in keeping with the strings’ perky playing, and managing his final aria with unflagging energy. Bernarda Fink’s lustrous tones add much to the performance; her glowing tone on the single word ‘Schlafe’ in her aria Schlafe, mein liebster expresses what mere words cannot. She can do drama, too – the atmosphere is electric in her recitative Warum wollt ihr erschrecken? Gerald Finley is commanding in the first three cantatas, and outclasses Christian Gerhaher who sounds slightly too effortful in cantatas four to six – although his handling of Herod’s recitative in the final cantata is exemplary. Some of the Harnoncourt mannerisms are present – an emphasis on the rhythm which on occasion may be overstated; the adoption of pauses within chorales which might be construed as interrupting the flow of the music – but they are rarely instrusive. His approach gives an impetus and energy to the music, but never to the extent that it is driven too hard, and he knows just when to relax the pace. The whole effect is of a series of finely-crafted tableaux – and surely that is what Bach intended his Christmas Oratorio to be. If you can buy only one recording this Christmas, be sure to buy this one!

Reviewed by Anne McAlister