Johann Sebastian
BACH (1685-1750) Mass in B Minor
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano)
Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)
Walter Ludwig (tenor)
Paul Schöffler (bass)
Vienna Singverein
Vienna Symphony Orchestra/Herbert von
Karajan
Recorded off-air from a live radio broadcast
on 15th June 1950 (missing
passages patched from the 1952 studio
recording).
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-1897) Four Serious Songs
Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Malcolm Sargent
Recorded off-air from a BBC broadcast
on 12th January 1949
Henry PURCELL
(1659-1695) Hark! The Echoing
Air (from ‘The Fairy Queen’)
George Frideric
HANDEL (1685-1759) Like as the
love-lorn turtle (from ‘Atalanta’)
George Frideric
HANDEL (1685-1759) How changed
the vision (from ‘Admeto’)
Hugo WOLF
(1860-1903) Veborgenheit
Hugo WOLF
(1860-1903) Der Gärtner
Hugo WOLF
(1860-1903) Auf ein altes Bild
Hugo WOLF
(1860-1903) Travelling
Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)
Pianist Unknown
Recorded 1949 from a recital in Oslo
Adolf JENSEN
(1837-1879) Altar
Henry PURCELL
(1659-1695), arr. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
From silent Shades
Sir Charles Villiers
STANFORD (1852-1924) The Fairy
Lough
Sir Charles Villiers
STANFORD (1852-1924) A soft day
Sir Hubert PARRY
(1848-1918) Love is a bable
Ralph VAUGHAN
WILLIAMS (1872-1858) Silent Noon
Frank BRIDGE
(1879-1941) Go not, Happy Day
Peter WARLOCK
(1894-1930) Sleep
Peter WARLOCK
(1894-1930) Pretty ring time
TRADITIONAL arr.
Benjamin BRITTEN Come you not
from Newcastle
TRADITIONAL arr.
HUGHES Kitty my love
The liner notes for
this disc refer to Karajan’s stylistic
approach to the ‘Mass in B minor’ as
setting the work firmly within the 19th
century German symphonic traditions.
The massive opening Kyrie seems
to confirm this, with its mammoth sound
and extremely slow tempo. The sound
quality of the recording does not help
as this is was recorded off air. This
performance is a live broadcast from
Vienna marking the 200th
anniversary of Bach’s death and it pre-dates
by 2 years Karajan’s studio recording
of the work. This recording is missing
some passages and these have been made
good from Karajan’s studio version.
But as I listened to
the performance I was surprised at how
much Karajan anticipates modern views
of the performance of Bach. Yes it is
performed with a large choir and a large
orchestra and the harpsichord continuo
tinkles unfortunately in the distant
background. But the fugues in the Kyrie
have a marvellous sense of transparency
and clarity of line. The Kyrie
fugues are slower than I would have
liked, but Karajan balances choir and
orchestra well and you never lose the
sense of structure in the fugue. Important
lines (whether choral or orchestral)
are always clear.
The Gloria opens
in a fine crisp, marcato manner and
the speed is suitably brisk; forces
are fined down for the fugue; no sense
of overblown 19th century
symphonic tradition here. But, in the
Qui tollis the choir are encouraged
to sing with hushed tones in a very
19th century manner and most
movements end with a very traditional
sounding rit. For the Cum Sancto
spiritu chorus, the final movement
of the Gloria, Karajan sets a
brisk speed and the choir are encouraged
to sing in a very detached/marcato manner.
But it is here that I must admit that
the recording does have strong drawbacks.
The chorus just cannot cope with Karajan’s
demands. Singing the passage-work in
a detached manner, though a technique
that has become common, does not come
easily to them and it sounds enormously
mannered and not a little untidy. They
cannot always cope with Karajan’s speeds
and he makes no allowances. So, for
instance, the opening two choruses of
the Credo are very untidy. The
choir are rather challenged by the speed
of the et resurrexit and the
Confiteor unam baptisma choruses.
The openings of both choruses are, quite
frankly, untidy messes, but once the
chorus settles down they respond pretty
well to the challenge. In the Sanctus,
Karajan returns to the more massive
sound of the Kyrie.
In a number of movements
the singers take some time to get used
to Karajan’s speeds and in the Laudamus
Te movement he has a positive fight
with Schwarzkopf. But generally, the
solo movements are the most enjoyable,
even though none of the soloists is
strictly a Bach stylist. Walter Ludwig
sounds a little pushed by the tessitura
of the tenor part, particularly in the
Domine Deus duet with Schwarzkopf.
But, realistically, of the soloists,
Ludwig’s voice type is probably furthest
from that which Bach envisaged; Ludwig
is very much a 19th / 20th
century operatic tenor and it is to
his credit that he negotiates Bach’s
lines with such skill. Schwarzkopf and
Ferrier respond well to the room Karajan
gives them, by providing such a delicate
accompaniment, in the Et in Unim
Dominum duet in the Credo.
In the Benedictus, Ludwig is
on better form but his creditable performance
is knocked into a cocked hat by Ferrier’s
performance in the Agnus Dei.
If this set is of more than historical
interest it is because of this glorious
track. Taken at a stupendously slow
tempo, Ferrier shows little sign of
strain and gives a luminous performance
which manages to transcend all questions
of historical performance practice;
it is for such moments that we need
to listen to such recordings with an
open mind.
Some of these movements
(including the Agnus Dei) have
appeared on previous issues of Karajan’s
1952 studio recording of the Mass (with
solos and choruses recorded in two different
cities) and Ferrier’s Agnus Dei is
really the principal reason for hearing
this recording. If your principal interest
is the Karajan ‘Mass in B minor’ then
my advice would be to get one of the
recent reissues of his 1952 recording
which have some of the excerpts (particularly
the Agnus Dei) from this live
recording included as a bonus.
But for those interested
in Ferrier’s art the set has more treats
in store; notably her 1949 broadcast
of the Brahms ‘Four Serious Songs’ with
Sir Malcolm Sargent and two recitals.
One is from Oslo from 1949 and one from
London in 1952. The ‘Four Serious Songs’
are sung in English with orchestrations
by Sir Malcolm Sargent. Though Ferrier
is vividly communicative in these lovely,
sombre works, I did miss the sense of
quiet intensity that she could have
brought to the version with piano accompaniment.
The Oslo recital enables
us to hear a lovely group of Wolf songs
sung in German and is beautifully communicative.
These are preceded by a Purcell song
and two Handel arias. These latter are
sung in English but given in full with
their Da Capo. Again Ferrier convinces
with her artistry in a performance which
is some distance from current practices.
In the London recording
we hear Ferrier in a fine group of songs
by contemporary and nearly contemporary
composers. The recital opens with a
beautifully shaped performance of Jensen’s
‘Altar’ sung in Norwegian. The care
and beauty of tone that she brings to
the Stanford and Parry songs belies
the low regard history has assigned
to them; and the songs repay her care
amply. These are followed by Vaughan
Williams’ ‘Silent Noon’ sung with great
beauty of tone and line. Warlock’s hauntingly
sung ‘Sleep’ is followed by his ‘Pretty
ring time’ charmingly sung with a smile
in the voice. The recital concludes
with a pair of folk song arrangements.
In the second, ‘Kitty my love’, Ferrier
even adopts a discreet regional accent.
With an artist like
Ferrier, whose recording career was
so short, there is a tendency for all
surviving recordings to acquire iconic
status whether they deserve it or no.
Luckily, with an artist like Ferrier,
nearly all of her recordings are worth
hearing.
Robert Hugill
Comment from
Guild
With
reference to this interesting and expressive
review of the Bach Mass, Mr. Hugill
mistakenly states that the 1952 commercial
recording by Von Karajan contains:
".
. . some of the excerpts (particularly
the Agnus Dei) from this live
recording. . ."
This
is in error. As our Recording Notes
set forth in the Guild booklet the excerpts
included in the Angel album are from
a rehearsal not from the broadcast.
In the rehearsal, on the afternoon of
the approaching evening broadcast, there
was some holdback by the singers, a
fact correctly noted by Jonathan Freeman-Atwood
in the Gramophone review of this
Guild release. (January 2004). Thus
the broadcast performance of the Agnus
Dei which had Von Karajan in tears
is not available in excerpt form in
the Angel or any other set.
We
would be grateful if you would direct
your readers to this letter (or inquire
if Mr. Hugill would correct his text).
With
thanks for your coverage and interest,
Richard
Caniell
Archivist
Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)