Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
Queen’s Hall, 28/11/24
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Václav Luks conductor, Scottish Chamber Chorus, Gregory Batsleer chorus director, Julia Doyle soprano, Helen Charlston mezzo soprano, Robin Tritschler tenor, Florian Störtz bass baritone
I have many favourite pieces of music but I can only rarely remember the first time I heard any of them. Bach’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’ is one of these, and I heard it sung by the SCO Chorus in the Queen’s Hall some years ago, sitting, then as now, in the side stalls left towards the front. The sheer delight of hearing the splendid opening movement has remained. Tonight’s performance is conducted by Czech baroque specialist, Václav Luks, and with nearly 50 singers and 37 musicians (plus harpsichord, pipe organ and timpani) the playing area stretches out to the sides and front, taking away three or four rows from the Stalls. Unusually all the higher strings are on one side of the stage while, divided by the harpsichord, the other side contains cellos and double basses, with woodwinds down the side, André Cebrián, the soloist in Mozart’s ‘Flute Concerto’ two weeks ago finding himself again at the front of the stage. Tucked in behind them, three trumpets and timpani are almost unseen, but certainly clearly heard.
Bach’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’ was composed over 1734 and 1735, and like the composer’s other longer choral works takes much of its music from earlier compositions . Here he re-works some pieces written for specific secular events, as well as from his many church cantatas, and also puts his own stamp on the chorales, based on traditional hymns which his early audience (i.e. church congregations) knew and sang along with. Like the John and Matthew Passions, this is a biblical story told in recitatives through a narrator, called an Evangelist, and also includes choruses, sometimes representing shepherds or angels, with recitative story-telling and solo reflective arias, sometimes seen from a specific character’s viewpoint. Unlike the Passions, the ‘Christmas Oratorio’ was not designed as a long performance on one day, but as a series of shorter cantatas, each linked to a specific feast day between Christmas and Epiphany (6th January). With each part lasting around 30 minutes, it’s rare even in modern times to hear all six parts in one concert. Tonight we hear the first three cantatas, from the birth of Christ to the shepherds’ arrival at the stable.
The opening chorus is as grand as any of Bach’s music: rhythmic timpani beats, woodwind twirls and trumpets preface a choral outburst of joy: “Jauchset, frohlocket!” (triumph, rejoice). Václav Luks leads a spirited performance, with expressive conducting (including a few leaps) which inspires vigorous playing from the orchestra (leader Stephani Gonley) and the chorus, and much obvious enjoyment all round. It is a splendid nine minutes and of course the live performance far exceeds any version on CD or film.
Some of the text comes directly from the Lutheran Bible, but Bach probably employed a regular collaborator, the poet, Pikander (Christian Friedric Henrici) to make a coherent whole out of New and Old Testament sources. Tenor, Robin Tritschler is the Evangelist, clearly enunciating and dramatising the story of Mary and Joseph arriving at Bethlehem. The rest of the cantata is an elaboration of this narration, very much in the joyful spirit of the opening. The orchestration thins out in the recitatives with a continuo group of harpsichord (Tom Wilkinson), chamber organ (Michael Bawtree), bassoon (Alison Green), cello (Philip Higham), and double bass (Jamie Kenny). Although Bach doesn’t assign solos to named characters, there’s no doubt about the maternal warmth in Helen Charlston’s nuanced singing of the recitative and aria, ‘Prepare thyself, Zion‘ which is accompanied by woodwind solo (I confidently wrote ”cor anglais” in my notes but am now less sure!) and violins, with the double bass entering during the aria’s middle section. Helen Charlston’s characterful alto is familiar to SCO audiences, but new to me was the bass baritone, Florian Störtz, who provides a confident and punchy account of the chorus-backed recitative ‘He to earth who comes so poor’. Like other modern singers of baroque music, he manages to bring drama to relatively obscure Biblical reflections, and there’s a church militant reassurance in his brass and timpani accompanied aria: its syncopated rhythm the perfect foil for Störtz’s effortless runs and decorations. Great stuff which leads to a short chorale with the same tutti accompaniment.
The second cantata which begins with an orchestral ‘Sinfonia’ immediately sounds different, with flutes and oboes providing a more pastoral feel. The Evangelist’s description of the shepherds in the fields is interrupted by a fine chorale which celebrates the paradox of the birth of an infant who has ‘come to conquer Satan’, a line which is sung loudly and with some relish! Soprano. Julia Doyle (in her only first half appearance) then delivers the Angel’s lines prophesying peace on earth. In the remainder of the second cantata the three other soloists sing recitatives and arias, with considerable variety in the accompaniment. Robin Tritschler’s ‘joyful, shepherds’ has an obliggato by André Cebrián on flute, (the conductor’s decision to place the woodwinds towards the front of the orchestra makes perfect sense) while the following recitative jazzes up the continuo with cello and double bass pizzicato. At the heart of this movement is a four line unaccompanied chorale “Look he lies in manger drear” – characterising the emotion of this section as ‘wonder’ compared with the ‘joy’ of the first cantata. Helen Charlston’s ‘Sleep now my dearest’ is one of the best arias in the Oratorio: with its long notes in the first line, elegant phrasing and difficult runs, it is a highlight of the evening. The chorus of Angels deliver the message of peace on earth in energetic counterpoint and the lines of the final chorale are interspersed with woodwind.
The oboists, Katherine Bryer and Julien Green are the last players to leave at the interval, carefully sorting out the intriguing instruments and spare parts with which they replicate the sounds of period oboes and oboes d’amore. In Part 3, the story of the shepherds visiting the stable at Bethlehem, trumpets and drums accompany the first brisk chorus, while the next more complex contrapuntal chorus features woodwind accompaniment. Florian Störtz and Julia Doyle enjoy their duet, with continuo and two oboes. The voices weave round each other very pleasantly, giving the soprano her only chance to be heard properly tonight. The text celebrates God’s mercy and the sense is of the shepherds’ urgent anticipation of witnessing a miracle. There’s excellent rapport between the two singers and the conductor. Helen Charlston’s aria following the Evangelist’s words, ‘Mary kept these thoughts in her heart’, is a beautiful introspective song with solo violin obbligato, by Stephanie Gonley - the violinist and the singer standing on either side of the conductor. The last time I heard a selection of three movements from the Christmas Oratorio, No 6 was the final one played – dramatically and musically exciting, with a magnificent final chorus to balance the work’s stirring opening. Although No 3 ends with less flamboyance, there are advantages in hearing the first part of the nativity story in its entirety, and a particular pleasure to listen to the three contrasting arias for the alto soloist, on which Helen Charlston has memorably put her individual stamp.
Václav Luks, an astute, energetic and sympathetic conductor, generously brings the singers and the different sections of the orchestra to their feet for their enthusiastic applause from a full Queen’s Hall - and blowing a kiss to the chorus. They and their director Gregory Batsleer are to be commended on their performance – they go from strength to strength.
To help ensure that continues, this year’s Christmas Appeal will help to secure the future of the SCO Chorus. Any donations to the SCO Christmas Give 2024 will be matched by a generous donor and the Big Give. See: Donate to Scottish Chamber Orchestra Ltd
PS Maxim Emelyanychev was interviewed by Tom Service in Radio 3’s ‘Saturday Morning’ to celebrate St Andrew’s Day. Find it on BBC Sounds. The interview starts 1 hour 17 minutes in.
