Bernard Chasan wrote:

>This will get me voted off the island:
>
>St. Mathew Passion
>Beethoven's Ninth Symphony  (finale)

Didn't Verdi give very strong criticism of the finale of Beethoven's
9th?

I've had the newest Herreweghe recording of the Passion and have had a
hard time getting into it.  I was very moved by the last disc, but thought
that the music could have been described more vividly, as in Handel's
Messiah, which covers some of the same story as the Passion.  For example,
Handel's "He trusteth in God that He would deliver him, Let Him deliver
him, if He delight in him" is extremely effective in portraying an angry,
hostile crowd.  The layers of the voices are intertwined with relentless
logic to unleash concentrated, focused anger.  (Isn't there a term for
this kind of music.) The Passion's version of this is much less vivid
and dramatic.

Even so, I don't think it's fair to fault Bach when comparing him to
Handel.  They were two distinctly different composers with different
backgrounds and experiences.  I read a fascinating account in Christoph
Wolff's book "Bach: The Learned Addition" of how Bach and Handel almost
met.  Handel was in Bach's neighborhood, and the two were planning on
meeting, but Handel seems to have blown Bach off for some inexplicable
reason.

I went through an intense Bach period, and started scratching the surface
of his Cantatas, which I believe hold the key to appreciating Bach and
the Passion (the organ works are very important for this as well).  I
am planning on resuming my Bach interest again, at an unknown date, and
I expect I'll start where I left off, i.e.  the Cantatas, and who knows,
I might get an appreciation for the Passion.

Please excuse any typos.  My four-year-old daughter was climbing all
over me as I wrote this.

Mike Leghorn
Evanston, IL.