Music for Holy Week
Following the choir's resounding success with Bach's Mass in B minor to
a capacity crowd in Ely Cathedral's Lady Chapel last year, Cambridge Voices
present Bach's astonishingly dramatic setting of the St John Passion in St
Cyriac & St Julitta's Church, Swaffham Prior on Saturday April 15th
(Eve of Easter Day) during Holy Week this year.
THE CHOIR WILL BE JOINED, once more, by their own orchestra, The Orchestra of the Age of Reason, though this time they only will employ one player for each instrument, effectively turning the orchestra into a chamber group of Cambridge's leading instrumental soloists. Besides this, there are several other features of this performance that should make this event very special indeed.
Firstly, in Bach's time, the audience for his St John Passion performances would have been encouraged to join in the singing of the hymns that Bach included in his music. Sadly, at most modern-day performances, the audience is firmly discouraged from doing so! But Cambridge Voices are keenly aware that their performance, this year, should respect the spiritual ambience of both the venue and the special time of year (Holy Week), which is why they will include some of EnglandÕs best-loved Passiontide hymns in their performance of the St John Passion and, furthermore, will encourage the whole audience to join in the singing of them. This, I think, help break down the inhibiting barrier, at so many modern performances, between the "active" performers and the "passive" listeners and I hope, promote the listener to the role of real participant in the passion drama.
Secondly, the role of the Evangelist is nowadays given over to a hired professional singer. However, Bach much preferred to elect a member of the chorus, made up of singers from his own choir at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, to sing this role, and Cambridge Voices will do the same this year, but with one important difference: the many recitatives for the Evangelist will be shared amongst all of the singers in the choir. The aim of this radical reinterpretation will, I hope, enforce the inclusiveness of the EvangelistÕs role as the observer of the Passion narrative, a role which many of us will participate in during Holy Week.
Thirdly, the solo arias will likewise be distributed amongst the choir-members, just as they did for their performance of Bach's Mass in B minor last year. The overall effect will be that all the singing will be presented by just the choir, as in Bach's time.
Fourthly, Cambridge Voices are to present all of the "alternative" arias and choruses that form the so-called "appendix" to the modern edition of Bach's St John Passion. These all date from the second performance of the piece, which Bach gave in 1724. Later, in the penultimate year of Bach's life, the composer re-designed the work, reassigning some of these "alternative" movements to his St Matthew Passion, or simply casting them into the bin! But these pieces are so wondrous, and so rarely heard nowadays, that Cambridge Voices wish to bring them to life once more.
Finally, the whole work will be directed from the keyboard, though not from the harpsichord or organ. My ongoing work preparing the complete solo keyboard works of Bach for performance on the modern piano (without use of pedals), coupled with the presence of only solo instruments in this concert, has led me to create an independent keyboard part for the St John Passion that is no mere "chordfilling" continuo-part. Rather, I have written out a fully-contrapuntal part for the keyboard, one that is faithful to Bach's customary compositional rigour, constantly complementing the other instruments and voices involved in each movement. This, I hope, will produce a true equality between all the musicians concerned, at long last!
We ask that the audience pay £6 each to attend this special concert. None of the money will go to the musicians: instead, all proceeds will go towards the choir and orchestra's ambitious project to make a new CD of some of the best music that has been specially composed for them over the years, to be partly recorded in St Cyriac & St Julitta's Church, Swaffham Prior (by kind permission of The Churches Conservation Trust) and partly in the church of St Etienne-du-Mont, Paris. This will mark the 20th anniversary of the choir's foundation, and will feature works never recorded before. So, here are the details of the choir's concert:
Bach's St John Passion
Sung by Cambridge Voices With The Orchestra of the Age of Reason,
Directed from the keyboard by Ian de Massini And with audience participation.
Holy Saturday April 15th, (Eve of Easter Day) 5.00pm (ending c. 7.00pm) in St Cyriac & St Julitta's Church, Swaffham Prior.
All tickets are £6, only available on the door. All seats are unreserved.