I have to share some funny facts. I love this composition and I play it in my office regularly. There are times when I have clients with disruptive kids or teens and I play it a little bit more loud (so they can hear it) Bingo!, it is like repellant, they leave right away. I have notice how some people cannot stand this type of music. Oh well, their loss.
Lintflas, don’t blame Bach, but the performance. When Paul McCartney played Yesterday for producer Georg Martin, Martin proposed a string quartet. Paul refused, but Martin didn’t back down. In the end, Paul accepted the proposal, but said: «Then they will play without vibrato!» Do people know what happens when it’s played and sung with vibrato? Here’s an explanation: «If you play with vibrato you’ll be outside of the specified pitch or most of the time.» It is a mystery to me that someone can enjoy music that is mostly outside the right pitch for most of th time.
Dejando aparte el "Erbarme dich", la mejor conjunción que uno puede imaginar entre la voz humana y la cuerda, sobre todo los dos primeros minutos, impactantes. Donath está poderosa aquí.
Karl Richter: Left us too soon, but grateful for the performances he left us. IMO Among the greatest conductor & organist ever. Great audio & video quality… from 1971? WOW! EXCELLENT Post.
I totally agree, Helen Donath said in a recent interview that Richter was her favourite director: "an extraordinary man and an exquisite, very sensitive musician"...She was almost crying while remembering him. We all miss him.
Beautifil and dramatic. Going from minor to the parallell major after just few bars makes a dramatic effect in the main theme, if one put on barock ears.
I actually agree. I wouldn't leave him out either, but the quote I heard concerned Bach and Mozart. Beethoven is surely worthy of angels ears, but the thing I think about him is that he's ours ! We claim him for ourselves. He's Man's composer, isn't he?
But anyway, this is a completely diferent way of singing bach from nowadays! Much more intense, the voice is full of harmonics and vibrato... I like both ways :) What do you think?
Good singing is always full of harmonics. Not all recordings catch them especially in the modern digital age where things are compressed and squeezed and volume hi but no harmonics. Many current singers are fine if you get good recordings.
@myroseaccount Thank you. I'd love to claim that for my my own but I heard it on BBC Radio 3. I agree with the thrust of what you say about the greatest composers but I dabble in composition myself and if I ever wrote anything considered fit for the ears of the angels I would be one content man.I think the "God"accolade only belongs to Bach and perhaps a small few of the Renaissance composers, Morales, Gombert and "El Cantor de Maria" Guerrero perhaps.
@dulCISSIMA1 Precisely, this sloooooooooooooooow motion feeling, the whole performance is like this, no feeling at all, just a slow and boring performance of a great, GREAT, a masterpiece work from Bach.
Mirko Galasso, I have written about it many times, but you never learn: Old written sources don’t confirm Richter’ performances of Bach’s church music.
Great performance, but I wonder; is anyone else disturbed with seeing how this woman keeps smiling despite of the words and the meaning of this aria? I find it quite awful and inappropriate. I don't think any sane person would smile while singing about blood, much less a Christian singing in a work about Christ's crucifixion. I wonder more how this detail could have passed Karl Richter's attention, him being the son of a Lutheran priest.
I don’t think it’s intentional it’s part of her technique. Smiling is a typical resource for singers to keep sharp resonators, maintain the voice in “the mask” and also to avoid being out of tune. 😊
Ohh, you watch the video by accident? This was Bach, you were looking for Bieber. Our fault, we will make sure to erase 200 years of classical music for you. Perhaps something more "happy"? Like Macarena?
Put down the bottle, get into your nighties, turn out the lights... it will be better in the morning....you can find someone else to make miserable....
Simply incredible! Helen Donath!!!!!...!!!!!!
C'è poco da fare... il maestro dei maestri...no word for the immortal Bach.
I have to share some funny facts. I love this composition and I play it in my office regularly. There are times when I have clients with disruptive kids or teens and I play it a little bit more loud (so they can hear it) Bingo!, it is like repellant, they leave right away. I have notice how some people cannot stand this type of music. Oh well, their loss.
They can't stand real signers
Some poeple can't stand Bach because the music confronts them with a presence they reject.
Lintflas, don’t blame Bach, but the performance. When Paul McCartney played Yesterday for producer Georg Martin, Martin proposed a string quartet. Paul refused, but Martin didn’t back down. In the end, Paul accepted the proposal, but said: «Then they will play without vibrato!» Do people know what happens when it’s played and sung with vibrato? Here’s an explanation: «If you play with vibrato you’ll be outside of the specified pitch or most of the time.» It is a mystery to me that someone can enjoy music that is mostly outside the right pitch for most of th time.
This was a real thing where a convenience store owner played classical music outside and people stopped stealing and loitering
Dejando aparte el "Erbarme dich", la mejor conjunción que uno puede imaginar entre la voz humana y la cuerda, sobre todo los dos primeros minutos, impactantes. Donath está poderosa aquí.
Im speechless!
Karl Richter: Left us too soon, but grateful for the performances he left us.
IMO Among the greatest conductor & organist ever.
Great audio & video quality… from 1971? WOW!
EXCELLENT Post.
I totally agree, Helen Donath said in a recent interview that Richter was her favourite director: "an extraordinary man and an exquisite, very sensitive musician"...She was almost crying while remembering him. We all miss him.
Einfach gut, noch immer. 👍🎶👍
i love it at this tempo!!!
Precioso, que voz tan limpia!!
Super voice!
Grandissima!!!
I am in tears
Beautifil and dramatic. Going from minor to the parallell major after just few bars makes a dramatic effect in the main theme, if one put on barock ears.
In the early 1990s, PBS made a TV docu about Richard Nixon and used the Bach Matthew Passion as the backing music.
vielen danke
Αριστούργημα!!!
Ich stimme Ihnen völlig zu.
I actually agree. I wouldn't leave him out either, but the quote I heard concerned Bach and Mozart. Beethoven is surely worthy of angels ears, but the thing I think about him is that he's ours ! We claim him for ourselves. He's Man's composer, isn't he?
@seponvi Thanks a mill , thanks for clearing it up! Been egging me for month haha
@macmusikpro ah by the way Helen Donath was born in 1940 in Corpus Cristi, Texas and she actually resides in Hamburg ;)
But anyway, this is a completely diferent way of singing bach from nowadays! Much more intense, the voice is full of harmonics and vibrato... I like both ways :) What do you think?
Good singing is always full of harmonics. Not all recordings catch them especially in the modern digital age where things are compressed and squeezed and volume hi but no harmonics. Many current singers are fine if you get good recordings.
@a0707089 I am not beeindruckend,But the soprano is Helen Donath. You can see it in the information of this video.
I love Helen Donath. Wish I could study voice with her.
@misterherrdon
Yes, Julia Hamari is ALSO absolutely amazing. Except that this is Helen Donath.
Great !!! But it's funny how she smiles in contrast to the lyrics she sings ... Bleed!*smile* Bleed, dear heart *smile* LOL
@macmusikpro No she is Helen Donath norteamerican soprano born in 1942 ;)
*1940
She studied with Paola Novikova - Novikova also taught George London, Nicolai gedda, hilde gueden, irmgard seifried
The angels listen to Mozart, God listens to Bach.
@myroseaccount Thank you. I'd love to claim that for my my own but I heard it on BBC Radio 3. I agree with the thrust of what you say about the greatest composers but I dabble in composition myself and if I ever wrote anything considered fit for the ears of the angels I would be one content man.I think the "God"accolade only belongs to Bach and perhaps a small few of the Renaissance composers, Morales, Gombert and "El Cantor de Maria" Guerrero perhaps.
@dulCISSIMA1 Precisely, this sloooooooooooooooow motion feeling, the whole performance is like this, no feeling at all, just a slow and boring performance of a great, GREAT, a masterpiece work from Bach.
¿Cómo le dieron no me gusta a esta hermosa música?
@a0707089
I believe that is the wonderful Helen Donath, an American with a mostly European-based career.
@alipitogen Quite well said
@alipitogen A very poignant statement, and one that without doubt defines the very greatest composers!
@seponvi Thanks :) Still alive? I hope she is :) I ll google it, got me interested there
@alipitogen and who's listening Beethoven??? :(
Is that Anna Netrebko?
is too romantic for baroque!!!
It's the hysterically informed performances that are too Renassaince-like sounding.
Mirko Galasso, I have written about it many times, but you never learn: Old written sources don’t confirm Richter’ performances of Bach’s church music.
@a0707089
Is Helen Donath
I love ignorant people, they make me laugh so much :P
the man listen Beethoven.
@starbreez3 Beautiful women are always smiling when you cansee their teeth.
@alipitogen damn, i'm god =PP
Great performance, but I wonder; is anyone else disturbed with seeing how this woman keeps smiling despite of the words and the meaning of this aria? I find it quite awful and inappropriate. I don't think any sane person would smile while singing about blood, much less a Christian singing in a work about Christ's crucifixion. I wonder more how this detail could have passed Karl Richter's attention, him being the son of a Lutheran priest.
I don’t think it’s intentional it’s part of her technique. Smiling is a typical resource for singers to keep sharp resonators, maintain the voice in “the mask” and also to avoid being out of tune. 😊
@FreeGoa4All She smiles when she says serpent... maybe she's anti-christ... who knows.
Why the fuck is this related to boys noize, justice and daft punk (electronic/dance)???
Miserable words, miserable music, miserable looking musicians.
These guys need to get themselves a life.
What would you like instead?
Ohh, you watch the video by accident? This was Bach, you were looking for Bieber. Our fault, we will make sure to erase 200 years of classical music for you. Perhaps something more "happy"? Like Macarena?
Put down the bottle, get into your nighties, turn out the lights... it will be better in the morning....you can find someone else to make miserable....
It's about the crucifixion of Christ after all.
A complete idiot with an even more idiotic nickname.
@misterherrdon
Yes, Julia Hamari is ALSO absolutely amazing. Except that this is Helen Donath.