An unhurried but powerful 'Passion'

Performers open Bach Festival with unhurried but powerful 'Passion'
By David Stabler of The Oregonian.

EUGENE -- For close to 250 years, the fluid curves and broad tributaries of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion have buoyed listeners on an inexhaustible stream of song. The three-hour masterpiece, which Bach himself considered special among his 1,100 works, contains such stillness at its core that time and space dissolve. We are simply hushed into its current.

On Friday, the Oregon Bach Festival opened its 35th season in Eugene with an unruffled, unhurried performance of the St. Matthew Passion. As the great opening chorus began, Bach's message of sorrow and compassion settled gently over the capacity crowd in the Hult Center's Silva Concert Hall. Helmuth Rilling, the festival's artistic director since the beginning, led a double chorus, double orchestra and a dozen soloists in a deeply felt performance.

The Oregon Bach Festival performs the St. Matthew Passion regularly, every three or four years. This year, Rilling, who lives in Stuttgart, Germany, brought his hometown choir to Eugene, the acclaimed Gachinger Kantorei, to mark the group's 50th anniversary. The combined sound of the 40 German singers with the festival's professional chorus filled the hall with beautifully blended expression, from profound sorrow in the opening and closing choruses, to anger and mocking of Jesus, to radiant acceptance of him as the son of God.

One of the most moving moments comes immediately after Jesus' death, when the chorus seeks to console itself -- and us -- by singing "Truly, this was the Son of God." The moment, which lasts a mere three measures, follows a series of tortured harmonies --"the whole of the earth did quake" -- that resolve into radiant A-Flat Major. They are unhurried measures, an acceptance of what must be, and the singers filled them with a glowing beauty.

At other times, particularly in the 13 chorales, those gorgeous hymns of four-part harmony, Rilling did little to vary the tempo or dynamic level. Each chorale moved at the same walking tempo, with more or less the same reassuring sound, no matter what the texts were about. "When comes my hour of parting" sounded identical to the indignant " 'Tis I who should, repenting in torture unrelenting, endure the pains of Hell."

The vocal soloists were more vivid storytellers. Lothar Odinius, a tenor from Berlin, made a fine Evangelist, or narrator, setting the scenes leading to Christ's Crucifixion. Unlike in his performance four years ago, he pushed his voice this time, like an actor, to cry out, whisper and soothe.

English soprano Kirsten Blase sang tenderly and with a particularly rending cry of despair in her recitative "Alas, my heart is bathed in tears." Ingeborg Danz, the German alto, brought full feeling and a rich tone to her arias. Sebastian Noack made a noble-sounding Jesus, and Sanford Sylvan sang with charged expression.

Bach gave particular challenges to select instrumentalists (oboes, bassoon, flute, violins and viola da gamba) who accompany the vocal soloists. Each player did excellent work.

Despite the generally smooth, unruffled sound of the chorus and orchestra, Bach's message of turmoil and compassion was powerful enough to emerge. The festival continues through July 11.

The Oregon Bach Festival continues through July 11. For tickets, call 541-682-5000. David Stabler: 503-221-8217; davidstabler@news.oregonian.com