Last Thursday evening (March 24, 2011) friends and I were in Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan to hear Bach Collegium Japan, under Masaaki Suzuki -
Artistic Director and Conductor, perform J. S. Bach's Mass in b minor. I had not heard this work performed live before this wonderful occasion. It's a work that has been on my must-hear-live before my-obliteration-and-oblivion list. Fortunately other works on my list have been heard and therefore checked-off; these include Mahler's Eighth Symphony, Schoenberg's first String Quartet and Pierrot lunaire, Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX, and Carter's first and second String Quartets. But Boulez's Le marteau sans maître remains confined to vinyl and CDs.
There were a few rough patches in the performance; but if the reader was not there in the audience, there is no reason to waste time with New York Times' styleless 'criticism': "It was a splendid performance; but not without flaws." It's not a multi-tracked CD after all!
The countertenor Clint van der Linde was outstanding. The solo parts performed by the ensemble's first violin, flutes, and oboes were very well played. The other vocal soloists and chorus were also quite good.
About the chorus there were two aspects that affected me greatly: After the intermission one of the chorus was without his score and another member of the chorus was much taller than the other members of the chorus. ☺ (Apologies to the New York Times.)
It was a wonderful evening of music.
No comments:
Post a Comment