Bach: St Matthew Passion

Do not listen only for the size of the opening chorus. Listen for the separate voices inside it, then for the change when a single narrator takes charge. Otto Klemperer gives Bach’s St Matthew Passion an unusually broad space to inhabit. The attraction is the relationship between public weight and private utterance, not merely a succession of imposing climaxes.

This is the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus recording made in London during 1960–61 and issued in 1962, not a document of Bach’s own performing circumstances. Peter Pears sings the Evangelist and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings Jesus. Christa Ludwig, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and other soloists contribute distinct voices, alongside the boys of Hampstead Parish Church Choir. Remembering only the conductor can obscure how much of the work depends on those different responsibilities.

Narration is not reflection

The Gospel narrative is interwoven with chorales and poetic contemplation. A recitative, a manner of singing close to speech, can carry events forward; an aria gives an emotion time to expand. These are different functions rather than interchangeable vocal numbers. You need not understand every German word on a first hearing. Identifying who reports an event and who responds to it already makes the long span easier to follow.

Two groups, many perspectives

Bach’s use of two vocal and instrumental groups belongs to the composition, not to a special effect invented for this recording. Klemperer’s spacious pacing invites attention to lines held apart as well as forces brought together. Calling it the last example of an obsolete tradition would flatten performance history. Instead, test how the tension survives across a long phrase and how the return of collective singing changes the scale of the scene.

Find a manageable entrance

The selected Warner edition lasts about 224 minutes. Start with the opening chorus and Erbarme dich, then return to the narration surrounding them. Isolated arias cannot show everything that prepares their stillness. The 2023 remaster presents the earlier performance, while its 78 digital tracks divide the work differently from the movement numbering. Titles and vocal roles are better guides than a track number alone.