Search - Haydn, Labitzke, Wunderer :: Seven Last Words of Christ (2002)

Cheap and worth thrice the price

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 04/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here is a sleeper oratorio version of Haydn's "Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross" by a bunch of Germans you never heard of on a label (Brilliant Classics) that is known for cheap stuff. This version of Haydn's endearing lament earns plaudits for Brilliant Classics and the unknown cast -- conductor Nicol Matt, soloists Petra Labitzke, Gabriele Wunderer, Daniel Sans and Christof Fischesser, the Nordic Chamber Choir and a chamber orchestra from Mannheim. The recording engineers that put this product on a CD deserve our thanks, too. During the three day session in January 2002 when the assembled forces put this together, the engineers produced a modern DDD performance that is warm, concise and has crystal clarity so every word of the German text is heard and understood. How often can you say that about a German singing production? Even that low C by the bass right before the earthquake is clearly audible...both the note and the word! I remember having to turn up the volume on Rilling's wonderful version of this music to hear that note. My only complaint is the score text is German only, meaning a non-German speaking American won't understand much of what is going on. I sang this once with my local choral society but no score was available, so we performed with a handmade score by our leader! I tried following along with that but we cut the score in our performance. So I'm a little frustrated with the packaging but not the performance. Lots of bigger name groups have done this music half as well as these folks! If you like this music, spend the $7 and get this CD before it's gone."

Oratorio Version: Haydn's Seven Last Words: Chorus & Chamber

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 03/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here the budget label Brilliant Classics offers us another Haydn gem, the oratorio version of the famous yet odd, Seven Last Words Of Our Savior On The Cross. The work is unique for several reasons. It was commissioned in detail to accompany church liturgy in Cadiz, Spain. From the start it was written by the composer in two editions, an original string ensemble and reduced string quartet score. Then later, the composer himself heard a regional choral adaptation and was further moved to do an improved choral version of his own, assisted by Vienna's ubiquitous musical expert and meddler, Baron van Swieten. As he wrote the oratorio version, Haydn added a third intermezzo movement to the whole work, so that the complete sequence is an overture to set the musical and devotional tone, the seven last words set chorally with an instrumental intermezzo in the midst, and a concluding instrumental earthquake movement to recall the shattering cataclysms said to follow upon the death of the crucified Jesus.



To my own ears, the oratorio edition has long been my preference. I like choral singing, for one thing. I also like the expanded, greater musical variety which the oratorio offers.



This reading is led by that redoubtable choral conductor, Nicol Matt. He has hardly ever made a bad recording, and so far as I am concerned that is saying something. As a master class professional choral student of Frieder Bernius and Eric Ericson he simply carries on the best of European and western classical choral music. His Brahms, Mozart, and Mendelssohn discs already sit comfortably on my fav shelves.



The ensemble is a chamber orchestra, emerging from the venerable musical traditions around Mannheim. This area's musical culture and performance excellence goes back several hundred years. Mannheim gave us, among other things, the famed Mannheim crescendo. The smaller ensemble strikes a very nice musical balance with the seventeen voices of the Nordic Chamber Choir. Combined, the band and chorus are large enough to stir us with their heft and sonic size, yet small enough to make the most of the many intimate and devotional moments that the composer wrote so carefully into this religious work. Thus, to my ears, this reading offers the best of the chamber intimacies embodied in the purely instrumental versions of this work, plus the added strength and variety which singing voices of just the right number can add to the music.



In regard to the negatives of one reviewer, maybe a comment needs to be made about the overall sound quality of this disc. Documentation says it was recorded in the Hotel Wartburg, Mannheim, in 2002, using standard red book CD PCM procedures. A DDD tag says that it was also mastered using purely PCM digital methods. So far as I can hear, as played on my five-point-one channel home system, the sound field is pretty much state of the PCM arts. Yes, conceivably, a gain in warmth might obtain if the master had been super audio, as well as the home SACD disc. But the disc is far from shrill or edgy. The venue seems to have been aptly chosen, too. It seems sonically the right size to reflect and gather both the instrumental and choral work going on throughout. The room plays its due part in offering air and bloom to the sections where chamber textures dominate; and there is no lack of sonic detail - certainly the chorus' pronunciation can be clearly heard; and the sound shows no congestion or compression when everybody is playing and singing together in the larger sections.



The only quibble might be that an English-speaking listener might wish that the text were translated and sung in English, but that is a minor consideration at best.



As this disc goes, and as this odd and unique Haydn work goes, this disc can be very highly recommended. How nice that Brilliant Classics offers us such excellence at such good price points. Many thanks, all."