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"Nicht mehr hier"

Maarten Engeltjes, altoa; Andreas Wolf, bassb
Lette Vos, sopranoc; Jasper Dijkstra, tenord
PRJCT Amsterdam
Dir: Maarten Engeltjes

rec: Oct 14 - 16, 2019, The Hague, Oud Katholieke Kerk
Sony - 19439751762 (© 2020) (73'28")
Liner-notes: E/NL; lyrics - no translations
Cover & track-list
Scores Bach
Score Buxtehude
Spotify

Johann Christoph BACH (1641-1703): Es ist nun aus mit meinem Lebenabcd; Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750): Ich habe genung (BWV 82)a; Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (BWV 56)abcd; Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (BWV 170)a; Dieterich BUXTEHUDE (1637-1707): Klaglied (BuxWV 76b)a

Mario Topper, Rodrigo Lopez Paz, oboe; Tatjana Zimre, oboe, oboe d'amore; Kim Stockx, bassoon; Rie Kimura, Lucia Giraudo, Anna Jane Lester, Giorgos Simoilis, Rachel Strouf, violin; Francesco Bergamini, Simone Sivieri, viola; Robert Smith, viola da gamba, cello; Alon Portal, viola da gamba, violone; Asako Ueda, theorbo; Edoardo Valorz, harpsichord, organ

Death is an important subject of music of the baroque era. The Requiem mass was part of the liturgy in the Christian church, since the Reformation the Roman Catholic Church. Composers wrote music for funerals of members of their employer's family or personalities from public life, and obviously, death is often a central subject in such pieces. But it was generally an important part of human life. Epidemics as we experience in our days (2020) were quite common: in 1634, for instance, Nuremberg was hit by the plague, and about half its population fell victim to it. Death was also an important part of Christian doctrine: it was the direct effect of the sins of mankind, which had become a part of human life through the Fall of Adam and Eve in Paradise. Thinking about death was closely related to the trials and tribulations of everyday life, but also to sin and to the salvation through Christ. This takes the central place in Lutheran doctrine, and in the wake of that in the music by the likes of Dieterich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach. Both are represented in the programme which Maarten Engeltjes and his ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam recorded, with the participation of Andreas Wolf. The title is well-chosen: "Nicht mehr hier" - Not here anymore (part of the text of Bach's cantata BWV 82).

The disc opens with a famous work by Buxtehude. The Klaglied was originally part of his lamento Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, whose text was written by Martin Luther, a paraphrase in German of the Nunc dimittis, the canticle of Simeon. Buxtehude performed it again, together with the Klaglied on a text of his own, in 1674 at the funeral of his father Johannes. The strings weave a web around the voice which sings the simple melody. It is a shame that only three of the seven stanzas are performed. Engeltjes sings it nicely, and there is no hint of stress on the top-notes. However, dynamically the performance is a bit too flat, and I would have liked a more speech-like performance, with a stronger differentiation between good and bad notes. The latter is one of the major shortcomings of this disc as a whole.

The second work is Bach's cantata Ich habe genung, written for the Feast of the Purification of Mary (or Candlemas) on 2 February. Its central theme is the longing for death and eternal life of the believer, now that Jesus has come. Its background is the canticle of Simeon, which as Nunc dimittis has become a part of liturgy of the Christian Church: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ... for mine eyes have seen thy salvation". It seems Bach liked this cantata very much. He reworked in three times: there is a second version for soprano, a third for mezzosoprano and a fourth for bass again, this time with an oboe da caccia as obbligato instrument, instead of the oboe of the first version. And in addition the first recitative, 'Ich habe genung', and the second aria, 'Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen', were included in the Clavierbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, its scoring being reduced to voice and basso continuo. In the first and second aria there is again too little dynamic differentiation; the performance is just too smooth. The last aria is done pretty well, but I don't understand why Engeltjes decided to sing the closing notes higher than written by Bach.

Andreas Wolf then sings Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, written for the 19th Sunday after Trinity. Its subject is the devout Christian shouldering his cross until he is taken into the promised land. The first aria is a vivid depiction of the believer walking under the heavy burden of the cross. Wolf's performance is rather disappointing. It is pretty straightforward, with little differentiation in dynamics and too much legato. The next recitative has an obbligato part for the cello, which expresses the waves which the text talks about. Here the journey of the believer through the world is compared to a boattrip. The cello falls silent when the text refers to the end of the boattrip as the Christian leaves the boat and enters his city: heaven. Next follows a joyful aria in which the believer expresses his relief that his cross will be taken off his shoulders. This comes off much better. After a second recitative, the cantata closes with a four-part chorale. Here, Engeltjes and Wolf are joined by Lette Vos and Jasper Dijkstra. They sing it well, but the tempo is a bit too slow.

Next, Engeltjes turns to Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, which dates from 1726. In that year Bach composed several cantatas for an alto soloist, probably because he had a specially gifted singer at his disposal. The text was written by Georg Christian Lehms, who published it as part of a collection of cantata librettos in 1711. The text includes some strong contrasts, especially between the first and the second aria. Notable in this cantata is the obbligato role of the organ. In most recordings, this part is played on a small organ. It is nice that here Edoardo Valorz plays the large organ in the Old Catholic Church of The Hague, where the recording was made. However, if such an organ is available and apparently is suited for a performance of Bach's cantatas, why wasn't it used in the basso continuo of all three cantatas, as was the case in Leipzig? This is a bit of a missed opportunity. Overall, this is the most convincing of the three cantatas, as far as the performance is concerned.

The disc ends with a piece by Johann Christoph Bach (the track-list attributes it to Johann Christian, with his dates - a major blunder). Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben is an aria in four stanzas, for four voices, notably without a basso continuo part. Every stanza ends with the phrase: "Welt, gute Nacht" - World, good night. It receives a fine performance here. The required tempo is adagio, and that is observed here.

The theme of this disc is not original, but makes much sense. There is hardly anything wrong with the singing of Engeltjes and Wolf. They avoid unnecessary vibrato, and their diction is excellent. One can easily understand the text without the libretto in the booklet (which comes, unfortunately, without English translations). It is just that the interpretations are not top of the bill, and are not quite up to the large competition.

Johan van Veen (© 2020)

Relevant links:

Maarten Engeltjes
Andreas Wolf
PRJCT Amsterdam


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