Part 2 of the Christmas Oratorio begins with a sinfonia.  In good hands,
the piece is excellent.  In the right hands, it's as good as music can be.
The sinfonia presents a kaleidoscope of colors and positive emotions.  Both
the stringed instruments and oboes have prominent roles.  I started by
listening to Gardiner and Koopman; they did very well, and both clocked
in at a little over 5 minutes.

Jacobs was next and his tempo was very slow, 2 minutes longer than the
other two.  That wasn't a problem; it gives the music a more reflective
quality.  Then came Herreweghe and I enveloped the music within seconds;
it opened up and I plunged right in.  Everything was so crisp and clear,
each instrument was well defined, and the kaleidoscope was sensational.
Herreweghe gives me a magical performance.  Even if the rest of the disc
was blank, I'd gladly pay full price for his sinfonia.  It's that good.

Following the sinfonia is a recitative for the Evangelist and a chorale.
The situation among the Evangelists remains the same; Werner Gura, for
Jacobs, is not quite as good as the others.  The chorale is a very fine
piece affirming the arrival of the savior.  Actually, it's quite beautiful
when performed by Jacobs, Koopman, and Herreweghe.  Gardiner takes the
piece too quicky; there's insufficient time to savor the arrival of the
savior.  Also, his chorus is not particularly well blended.  Koopman is
even faster than Gardiner, but I hardly noticed it, and his chorus sings
beautifully.  Jacobs uses the slowest tempo and provides a gorgeous
rendition.  Only Gardiner does not deliver excellence.  And, I am sensing
that cracks in Gardiner's armor are being revealed here in Part 2 which
doesn't possess the highly festive and celebratory nature of Part 1.

Next comes a recitative for Evangelist and Angel and a recitative for
bass.  The first recitative continues the affirmation expressed in the
previous chorale and is a lovely piece.  But, only Koopman's angel sounds
appropriate and pleasant.  Jacob's angel is too dramatic, Gardiner's is not
of pleasant voice, and Schlick, for Herreweghe, is still a problem.  In the
bass recitative, Jacobs and Herreweghe have the lesser soloists in Klaus
Hager and Peter Kooy.  Klaus Mertens and Olaf Bar continue their excellent
contributions.  Concerning Koopman, he is doing very well in Part 2.  It
could be that Part 1 was just not his type of music - he might have a very
serious nature.

A bass aria follows which is set to a rousing text.  I find Bach's music
here relatively subdued given the text, but it's a fine aria which becomes
excellent in Herreweghe's hands.  He has the pulse of the music.  Also,
the flute playing of Marc Hantai is sensational, and Peter Kooy delivers
a stunning performance.  It's a perfect rendition all around.  The other
three versions have problems.  Klaus Hager, for Jacobs, is not distinctive,
Gardiner doesn't have his pulse on the music, and Koopman actually delivers
a "downer" type performance which is just the opposite of the text.  Just
when I start praising Koopman, he comes up with the blues.  I'm definitely
not going to invite him to perform at my grandson's birthday party.

Next comes a recitative for Evangelist, a chorale, and a recitative for
bass, each less than one minute in duration.  The Evangelist informs that
the infant is lying in a manger, the chorale expresses the "wonder" of the
infant and his lying in a dark stable, and the bass recitative speaks of
singing to the infant a lullaby and lulling him to sleep.  The chorale
is done very well in each version, with Jacobs going very slowly but
beautifully.  The bass recitative is very interesting.  Bach had to create
the sense of lulling a baby to sleep, and he did this with a bass voice.
For the piece to be most effective, both the conductor and bass singer must
convey the feeling of slow trip into slumber.  Gardiner and particularly
Koopman do this quite well and their singers (Bar and Mertens) are superb
as well.  Hager, for Jacobs, is fairly good.  Neither Herreweghe nor Kooy
convey more than a minimum sense of falling into slumber.

Next is a lovely alto aria conveying the joy, beauty, and great love and
significance of the infant.  It's a lot to convey, and Michael Chance,
for Herreweghe, does it all.  His voice rings out clearly but never in a
strident fashion - a superb performance.  Herreweghe does well but not as
good as Gardiner whose orchestral contributions are the best of the four.
His von Otter is good, but not close to Chance's level.  Koopman is fine,
and I preferred the von Magnus lighter voice to von Otter.  Jacobs is
rather slow and Scholl is at von Otter's level.  So Herreweghe's version
is very special with Gardiner and Koopman doing well.  The slow tempos
of Jacobs are somewhat debilitating and can negatively impact the themes
of the work.  His soloists don't improve matters, but there might be some
fine help on the way from Dorothea Roschmann.

Following the alto aria is a very short Evangelist recitative and then a
foot-stomping chorale expressing joy, peace, and goodwill.  This chorale
has a bass line that won't quit and provides quite a sense of forward
momentum.  Bach takes the basic theme and turns it and twists it just
enough to insure continued interest; he also varies the volume similarly.
Koopman and Herreweghe are relatively slow but still express all the
emotions of the piece.  Jacobs surprised me with the fastest tempo; his
chorale really flys and it's quite exciting although not fully in keeping
with the text.  Gardiner gives the best performance; he has his pulse on
the music and the chorus does very well.  His is a thrilling rendition.
Volume controls should be up high for Gardiner.

Part 2 concludes with a bass recitative and chorale.  Concerning the bass
recitative, Klaus Hager, for Jacobs, continues not to distinguish himself.
But the main thing here is the chorale.  Its text is uplifting and somewhat
robust.  I need to digress a little at this point.  I don't have any
routine as to the listening order; I just take from the top at the time.
But every now and then, it turns out that the order is just right.  For
the chorale, I started with Jacobs.  His was a gorgeous performance and
his choir superb.  But I noticed that the very serious reverence of his
conception did veer from the themes of the text.  Next came Koopman and
I detected a "bounce" to the music.  Then Gardiner gave me more bounce
than Koopman.  Finally, Herreweghe had the most bounce of all and the
fastest tempo.  All this bouncing was interesting.  I realized its fidelity
to the text; that was good.  I also realized that it conveyed more of the
creativity of Bach's music than the Jacobs approach.  But, my ultimate
decision is to go with Jacobs because his version is so beautiful and his
chorus perfect.  The text will just have to take a backseat to the music
on this one.

That's the end of Part 2.  Herreweghe's performance was the best and
highlighted by a transcendent Sinfonia and alto aria.  Jacobs did not do
well.  More than anything else, his vocal soloists are dragging him down.
So far, not one of them has excelled in any of the music.  It's not that
they are a disagreeable lot, but that the competition is very strong.
Koopman continues to do well, and his soloists are very good.  Overall,
Gardiner is still best, but that's primarily due to his outstanding Part 1.

Don Satz
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