John Smyth responds to me:

>>Matthias Goerne as Jesus over-emotes and seems frantic at times, as if
>>he had no idea ahead of time about Judas and his betrayl.
>
>I depends on which gospel you're looking at.... I think Goerne's strategy
>could be justified here.

Good point.  When faced with a choice, I'll always take the 'inward'
approach.  I've never looked at any of the gospels.  Fact is that my sole
source for reading anything of a religious nature comes from CD liner
notes.  They will be my path to salvation.  On the rare occasions that I'm
at the Temple with my wife, I leave my reading glasses at home.  I just
can't seem to remember to bring them along.

In Part 2, I did not fully explain my negativity concerning Goerne's highly
emotional displays.  Only part of it has anything to do with the Last
Supper; the other part deals solely with Goerne's voice.  I will provide
the missing piece of that puzzle at the beginning of Part 3.

Actually, I already have written the beginning to Part 3, so I might as
well also present it now:

In Part 2 of my review, I did not fully explain my unfavorable reaction
to what I called Matthew Goerne's over-emoting in his role as Jesus in the
Harnoncourt set.  Some of my reaction is based on text, but the rest just
has to do with Goerne's voice.  As I've stated earlier, I find Matthew
Goerne to have a fantastic instrument.  Its greatest appeal to me is based
on its strength, masculine stature/majesty, and tonal beauty.  However, I
also find that when Goerne takes on a highly emotional posture in the
recitatives, those wonderful vocal qualities are greatly reduced.  He no
longer sounds strong, stature takes a nosedive, and even the tonal beauty
loses much in the equation.  This surprised and disappointed me; I initally
thought that Goerne would be sensational on any emotional level.  As usual,
I generally expect too much out of mere mortals.

Don Satz
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