Bozar invited Ton Koopman with his Amsterdams Baroque Orchestra and at Flagey it was the Collegium Vocale Gent that was the invited guest. Without his Phillipe Herreweghe but with Christoph Prégardien. As conductor this time. That it would be enjoyable, you could have known in advance. And it is of course tempting to compare the two performances. Okay, here we go then.
The opening is sufficiently well-known, with that sparkling "Juicht en Jubelt". The story is familiar enough. In a nutshell, it is also contained in all those almost forgotten Christmas carols about the "little shepherds lay at night …" But when the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra of Ton Koopman starts with that opening choir, then you are blown away in a different way than by nice Christmas carols. Always overwhelming, not so much by a hard attack - although the choir sounded louder than the orchestra - but by that sparkle in the blend of timpani, trumpets and woodwinds supported by fiery strings under the direction of an enthusiastic conductor.
Ton Koopman: "Yes, enthusiastic, how could it be otherwise, from the moment your profession is your hobby and you can express yourself in it, what is more beautiful than doing that. I just turned 75 but I don't feel like 75. It's wonderful to make music with young people. Music is harmony and in that harmony there must be pleasure in making music together. But there must also be courage, not just doing it comfortably, no, you have to dare to take risks, go for the music and if it works, it's wonderful."
That harmony was there and so was that driving baroque rhythm. Koopman admittedly has the reputation of being impetuous, but his baroque specialists took a more reasonable tempo this time, although I missed clarity. When I heard the Collegium Vocale the next day, there was also that harmony as well as that driving force, but perhaps sounding less 'hard', more 'danceable'. Looking for a word to characterize that different style, I can only come up with 'control': that pure finish, not just impetuosity. The Amsterdam Baroque Choir, which Koopman only founded in 1992, sounded magnificent and his soloists too, especially tenor Tilman Lichdi. But the Collegium Vocale sounds so perfectly homogeneous under the direction of guest conductor Christoph Prégardien, with son, tenor Julian, engaged as narrator evangelist in the choir. Julian Prégardien: "That is quite special, yes, I can see my father conducting but I hardly dare look at him…". And father Prégardien? "Yes, I can believe that, that is also very emotional for me. That he performs that evangelist role so beautifully under my direction is truly a special Christmas gift for me".
There are the sustained recitatives, Ton Koopman supports them himself, standing at the organ, there are the successive choir parts and also the arias. Bach admittedly did not write operas, but his arias are second to none compared to any opera composer. In the second cantata there is such a wonderful aria, "Frohe Hirten…". In the melody line of tenor Julian Prégardien, dialoguing together with the traverso of Patrick Beuckels, you hear the playful little lambs skipping towards the baby Jesus. Also in that long lullaby "Schlafe mein Liebster". Sung by Koopman by the prima alto Franziska Gottwald, but at Collegium Vocale by rising star among countertenors, Alex Potter. What a different experience.
Where the second cantata began with a Sinfonia the third cantata starts again quite cheerfully with orchestra and choir, followed by a remarkable duet with something Bach was such a master of: voices interwoven with each other and with his beloved woodwinds. In that duet for soprano and bass for example "Herr dein Mitleid…". And shortly after in that aria for the alto, in dialogue with the violin. So varied and melismatic playing with the people and means he had at hand. The fourth cantata also has an opening choir, this time with that beautiful but often uncertain sound of the horns, very audible with the Amsterdammers. And then that unsung echo aria, for soprano, 'echo soprano' and oboe. It must be said, the Collegium from Gent has quite an advantage here with their oboe players and this time not only with Marcel Ponseele. Colleague and former student of his Timothée Oudinot soloed extraordinarily here. If there is one instrument you could call THE Bach instrument, it would be the oboe. Marcel Ponseele: "Bach had a very good oboe player, also town musician, and the most beautiful literature written for that instrument, Bach actually wrote for that man. I am glad that literature exists because after Mozart, yes, he wrote a concerto for it, it disappeared completely in the 19th century." Ton Koopman can only confirm: "If you think that Gleditsch, the man who played all those Bach pieces for the first time, must have studied like mad... But what a wonderful life he had! All those beautiful pieces to perform first and then still with such a genius conductor as Bach!".
The graceful agility with which the 75-year-old Koopman conducts stands almost in contrast to the calm certainty with which Christoph Prégardien stands before the Collegium Vocale. All professional baroque specialists, but would it have sounded so professional with Bach? Ton Koopman: "I think so, because Bach was a genius and a genius cannot accept that something is mediocre. We, poor people, can….". Although his real profession is singer, Christoph Prégardien is also delighted to stand before such a select ensemble. "I have worked a lot with Herreweghe as a singer and the knowledge and experience I gained with him, I want to pass on when I stand before his singers and orchestra. I do it gladly and it gives me a good feeling to be able to do so". Does he feel like a Stellvertreter, substitute for Herreweghe? "Absolutely not, I would not dare to claim such a pretension. But Philippe has so much work this year with the choir's 50th anniversary that he asked me to do it. It is a gift and I am grateful for it".
At BOZAR, Koopman sticks to four cantatas out of six, in a full evening program. At Flagey, the Collegium Vocale performed all six cantatas, divided into an afternoon and an evening concert. This allowed us to fully enjoy Peter Kooij in the aria 'Erleucht auch meine finstre Sinnen' from the fifth cantata, for bass and Marcel Ponseele's oboe d'amore, and shortly after the beautiful terzetto 'Ach, wenn wird die Zeit…' for soprano (Hana Blazikova), countertenor and tenor. In the final part, with the closing choir, there came that reminiscence of that famous 'head full of blood and wounds'. One of many examples of Bach's recycling or 'parodying'. The whole is solidly concluded with the brass instruments, as at the beginning of the Christmas Oratorio.
The audience appreciated the young tenor Julian Prégardien with hearty applause but did so absolutely also for the other singers, the entire choir and orchestra members. At BOZAR and Koopman, the applause was louder, but of course more people could fit there. At Koopman's concert, a Christmas carol could be performed as an encore. In both cases, there was an almost consecrated silence during the performances that you don't easily find at concerts with 19th-century music. This is how Bach fans honor their master, and it is no wonder that his Weihnachtsoratorium rose in Klara's Top 100 this year from 8 to 5.
Final appreciation? Collegium Vocale wins on points over the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Koopman's tempestuous conducting style is contagious, but with Christoph Prégardien's sober approach you notice that he studied under Herreweghe. It was on the one hand lively and on the other restrained, but both performances provided for a splendid weekend.
- WHAT: Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248, J.S Bach, cantatas I-IV
- WHO: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Amsterdam Baroque Choir, conducted by Ton Koopman and soloists Martha Bosch (soprano), Franziska Gottwald (alto), Tilman Lichdi (tenor) Klaus Mertens (bass).
- WHERE: BOZAR, Brussels
- WHEN: Friday, December 14, 2019
- PHOTO: mt
- WHAT: Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248, J.S Bach, cantatas I-VI
- WHO: Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Christoph Prégardien with soloists Hana Blazikova (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Julian Prégardien (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass).
- WHERE: Flagey, Brussels
- WHEN: Saturday, December 15, 2019
- PHOTO: © Roger Creyf
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3HLVzNO5mM[/embed]
