One of my most powerful art-related experiences of late has been listening
to the recording of Bach's St. Matthew Passion by Paul McCreesh and the
Gabrieli Players.  It is, I am told, a controversial recording because
McCreesh has used a "historically informed" (Is that the preferred term
now?  Or should I prefer "authentic"?) approach: one voice to a part.
This is the first recording of such a performance.

Whether a recording is authentic or inauthentic, historically informed
or misinformed is, to me, not terribly important.  I'm just interested
in whether the performance--for me--works, and this one does.  It is
absolutely--all two hours and forty minutes of it--riveting.  I highly
recommend this even to those (and I sometimes fall into these categories)
who think they don't care for choral music, or can't relate to religious
music.  It's Bach after all, and as has been touched on in another thread,
even when he's doing something one is not predisposed to like one is
quickly, immediately, and forcefully, won over.

For those who are interested in the controversy surrounding McCreesh's
approach, Timothy Roberts, in the liner notes to the CD writes: "The
traditionalists, including many of our most esteemed Bach scholars, are
always promising irrefutable evidence to prove that Parrot and Rifkin
are simply incorrect.  However, in 20 years, the arguments to support
choral performance have looked increasingly flimsy when compared to the
persuasive arguments for the use of solo voices."

Whatever your position in the debate, or even if, like me, you have
no position, I highly recommend this recording.

Yours,

David Cozy <[log in to unmask]>