St. Matthew Passion
Suomen Laulu’s 111th and 112th performance of the Passion
J.S. Bach
Topi Lehtipuu, evangelist and conductor
Matthew Rose, Jesus
Núria Rial, soprano
Oleksandra Diachenko, alto
Fernando Guimarães, tenor
Ludwig Mittelhammer, bass-baritone
CandoMini, Kannelkellot and Helsingin konservatorion nuoret laulajat (Helsinki) / Sävelsirkut and Katajanmarjat (Pori)
Suomen Laulu
Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the mixed choir Suomen Laulu have a long shared tradition – the founder of the choir, Heikki Klemetti, brought the Passion tradition to Finland in 1921. St. John’s church in Helsinki was established as the venue at an early stage: this year it’s already the 93rd performance in St. John’s Church and Suomen Laulu’s 111th performance of the St. Matthew Passion altogether. Only the wars and the pandemic have broken the tradition. This year, the soloist ensemble consists of early music specialists from Great Britain, Spain, Ukraine, Germany, Portugal and Finland. The concert will also be performed in Central Pori Church in Satakunta.
The St. Matthew Passion has been called the Passion of Passions, and it is written for a double choir, a double orchestra and a soloist ensemble. The St. Matthew Passion is one of two remaining complete Passions by Bach. The work has by no means been performed widely during the entirety of its long history, rather it was brought back to life by Felix Mendelssohn in 1829 after falling into oblivion for almost one hundred years. The building blocks of this magnificent masterpiece of Easter music are arias, narrative recitativos, the Evangelist’s narration, choirs and chorales. At times the choirs and orchestras alternate, at times everybody joins in singing and playing at the same time. The story follows St. Matthew’s gospel and retells the events of Easter as told by the Evangelist and in the soloists’ recitativos. In the arias and choirs we stop to interpret individual parts of the story. The soloists have more than one role and they express different emotional states, for instance anguish, remorse and anger. The choir does also switch between roles, at times being disciples, soldiers, a brawling crowd or a chorale choir pondering the events. Bach was successful in his objective to compose a work that would surpass its liturgical intentions and endure time. Almost 300 years later we find that regardless of whether the listener is reading the score, an English translation or is just listening, in the amazing acoustics of the large churches the music has something to give everyone.
Duration: 3 h 15 min (incl. intermission)