Nancy Moran | Baltimore, Maryland USA | 05/25/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This Naxos version of the St. Matthew Passion (Highlights) is a masterpiece of choral, duet and solo artistry.Period instruments (recorder, oboe, strings) are used throughout.The recording is clear and vibrant. The musicians are at their fullest. The composition is versatile, expressive and carries the story to a great degree. There is four-part harmony of ancient German hymns deftly placed at various intervals.I especially enjoyed the soprano duets but the bass solos rival any others on any other CD. The diction (German) is the finest you can find on Amazon.Given the subject matter of the CD, much is not most of it is in a minor key. The choir is very apt and delivers the content in fine fashion. The soprano section is strong and offsets and complements the other sections well.This is truly a Naxos production of the highest order. It is the Hungarian Festival Choir and the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra. Playing time is 75'13". It was recorded in February of 1993."
Incredibly moving.
darragh o'donoghue | 03/07/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although this CD includes only highlights from a complete performance, it is a safe purchase, for the complete performance itself is a surprisingly good recording of Bach's famous Passion. The choir is outstanding, and so is the orchestra. The quality of the recording itself is very clean, and the entire performance is solid from the first choral to some of the tender arias to the final heart-breaking song. This is an astounding buy at such a low price, and the complete three CD package, with libretto in German and English included, is also well-worth the proportionally higher modest price."
HUNGARIAN DELIGHT
Michael JR Jose | the UK | 10/19/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Another Naxos value-for-money delight. This all-Hungarian performance encapsulates light and dark, passion and calm, beauty and tears. The full seventy-five minute selection is of the best loved arias and chorales from the whole. There are no stand-out star individual performers, just excellent, passionate individual contributions. The Hungarian Festival Choir and the Children's Choir do all that could be asked of them. The whole is a delightful and moving blend: a miniature masterpiece. It fills me with awe at the beauty of it all. Ungiven as I am to panegyrics, I unreservedly recommend it."
If we must have maimed Bach...
darragh o'donoghue | 10/17/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Extracts from the huge operas of Wagner are notoriously dismissed as 'bleeding chunks', but the damage done to the work of JS Bach is even more violent, a composer for whom precise, intricate architecture and musical expression are synonymous. this violence is compounded in a narrative work like 'St Matthew passion', where the most 'extractable' bits have little to do with the story, which is carried by the less glamorous recitative. By removing the narrative power of the recitative, the impact of the many beautiful choruses and arias, commenting on the action and affirming Christian faith in this traumatic ritual, is diluted.However, the cash/credit-strapped like myself will have to make do with this set, especially since Naxos seem to have withdrawn their full 3-CD version. The compilers reverse the usual practice by favouring arias over choruses, presumably because the non-recitative choruses are pretty uniform, or maybe because the Hungarian State Choir aren't quite up to the soloists or musicians - the famous opening chorus, hurling us immediately into the anguish, piercing flutes shattering the grieving choir, is a little sluggish, although the mirroring final chorus, flute-free, in which confusion and despair have given way to resignation and hope, is much better.The arias, however, are little miracles of sensitive playing. These can be divided into two types: stark pieces, in which the soloist is accompanied by a single dominant instrument over a disturbing bass; or those with string or orchestral accompaniment. Some of these latter are like mini-Brandenburg concertos; no. 39, lamenting Peter's betrayal, mourning violins over descending bass, is as moving as Albinoni's similar 'Adagio'. These apparently simple pieces constantly change tempo and mood, so charged are they with emotion - the long lines of no. 6 interrupted by staccato weeping; no. 8, responding to Judas' introduction, has a bass slithering like a serpant; no. 27 breaks down the clarity of earlier arias to deal with Judas' betrayal, culminating in a jagged choral curse, spewing out the Hell they invoke. you could of course complain about what's left out (my own favourites are arias nos. 49 and 57, the latter a goose-pimpling viola de gamba solo), but hopefully this compilation will encourage listeners to seek out the whole Passion, and submit to one of the most overpowering experiences art can offer."