Home  Entertainment Reviews Review: St. John Passion (March 17)
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Review: St. John Passion (March 17) |
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Written by D.S. Crafts
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Monday, 17 March 2008 |
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Santa Fe’s Pro Musica closed out its Bach Festival this past weekend with the crown jewel of the series, the St. John Passion. Forever in the shadow of its younger brother the expansive St. Matthew Passion, the St. John is a more manageable length, but nonetheless full of heart-rending music. It tells John’s version of the crucifixion story beginning with the arrest of Jesus.
The only two large choruses bookend the work, impressively beginning and closing the performance. The precise and robust singing of the introduction gave the music an unusual brightness despite its dark mood, but certainly in keeping with the final words, “...forever glorified.” Given the profoundly sweeping melody of the final “Rest well, sacred bones,” one can only marvel that Bach could have ever been considered a minor composer, as he was in his own time. Beautifully sculpted choral singing remained present throughout the work as glowing chorales, each with their surprising harmonic twists, and as relatively short rhythmic interjections representing the soldier, the priests and the mob. These short, often very polyphonic passages constitute the most lively and exciting moments of the work. Given their usually cruel messages (“Crucify, crucify!”) one is reminded of William Blake’s later observation about Milton’s Paradise Lost, that the devil has all the best lines. John Elwes, a frequent performer in Santa Fe with a slew of prestigious recordings to his name, sang the role of the Evangelist. His high-sounding, tightly-focused tenor afforded the narration a highly distinctive vocal color. Given his passionate expression in the recitatives coupled with the melting lyricism of the tenor arias, one could not ask for a more effective Evangelist. Word-painting on “geisselte” (whipped) and the aria “O my soul” in which Peter cries bitterly after having denied knowing Jesus, were particular highlights. So too was the tender exchange between the Evangelist and Jesus (bass Curtis Streetman) as the latter acknowledges his mother from the cross. Streetman’s pronouncements were throughout both touching yet powerful. The female soloists too were highly effective. Ellen Hargis’ high soprano has a rather dark quality to it, making a very unusual color combination with the two flutes in “I follow you with eager steps.” Here the flutes were intentionally light and airy in their counterpoint with the voice. She combined again with flutes and also oboes in a radiant Zerfliesse, mein Herz (“Dissolve my heart”), perhaps the work’s best-known aria, with its arresting and unexpected turns of phrase. Alto Janice Felty and Mary Springfels (viola da gamba) provided the dramatic centerpiece in the aria “It is fulfilled,” deepest sorrow which changes dramatically to the jubilant “The hero from Judah conquers mightily.” The ever-reliable and ever-effective conducting of Thomas O’Connor held the large ensemble together in this superb performance of dramatic and sincere musical spirituality from the stage of the St. Francis auditorium. Comment on this article
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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