Already on Palm Sunday going to listen to a musical Passion story? Yes, you could hear it at AMUZ in Antwerp, premiere in our country with Il Gardellino and not the one by Matthew or John. It was about a Passion oratorio, a reconstruction of scores that had long remained in the wings of Johann Sebastian Bach's collected work, in the "Anhang" of the "BWV" or Bach Werke Verzeichnis.
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Alexander Grychtolik[/caption]
Musicologists and musicians still wonder whether these are pieces Bach left unfinished or merely attributed to him. One of them is musicologist and harpsichordist Alexander Grychtolik. He found and examined texts in a bundle by Bach librettist and poet Picander for a "Passion oratorio". It is known that Bach worked on a Passion story for Good Friday in 1725, but it remains unclear whether he also completed it. Based on all that textual and musical data, Grychtolik reconstructed this oratorio. He himself calls it an "artistic experiment". With an allusion to Bach's love of numerical symbolism, this story consists of 33 parts, the Christ number of his age.
From that first note you are immersed in that Bach Passion idiom. With the words of the chorale it goes like this: "O man, bewail your sins from which Christ will redeem you". Extracted from that bundle of Bach's librettist Picander and here all skillfully and poetically translated in the program booklet. Then follows as a recitative a first piece of Gospel narrative and an aria with tenor/evangelist Hans-Jörg Mammel. Many of those arias in this Passion reconstruction are accompanied by a dialogue with one or more instruments, each time supported by a languorous basso continuo.
For example, the very melodious Peter aria with bass Jonathan Sell is beautiful, in a duet with transverse flute and oboe. First united together and side by side Jan De Winne and Marcel Ponseele, founders of the baroque orchestra Il Gardellino". The first time the melodic line is more lamenting, the second time it was a tone higher on an oboe d'amore and had to sound angrier. The problem is, if you have to play that aria twice it's not physically possible, so the second time I gave it to my colleague" says Ponseele. It was a highlight in this Passion. But that was also true for all those arias with altus William Shelton, baritone Tiemo Wang, soprano Maria Jana Pieters each time in dialogue with the violinist, with the recorders, bassoon, oboes...
How did that collaboration come about? Jan De Winne: "It was Alexander Grychtolik who invited us to come listen to his reconstruction and he called us later and said he wanted to do his project with Il Gardellino. We said yes and we've been working on it for a long time now. He finished that project during the covid period and in 2023 there was the creation in Frankfurt. Of course there is discussion about such a reconstruction, but every Bach festival wants to hear that by now…". Marcel Ponseele adds jokingly: "That would be my first question if I saw Bach: is that correct?".
When this Passion oratorio ends with the wonderfully beautiful choir section "Wir setzen uns bei deinem Grabe nieder" you can only think: "the reconstruction is truly Bach". Delightful, if you can use that term for a Passion story. It sounds just as impressive and moving as the completed passions of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Still to be heard on KLARA, introduced by Nicole Van Opstal, now Good Friday April 18 in the Klara Classic program at 8 PM and later also on VRT MAX.