Music of Faith Salute to All Nurses

Alto Delphine Galou; Violinist Francois-Marie Drieux; Les Siecles, Conductor Francois-Xavier Roth. 

New York Diary (20-16): Music of Faith, Bach, Beethoven
Muisc in the Time of Corona
Basic Repertoire: St Matthew's Passion; Missa Solemnis

Today is National Nurses Day. I'd like to salute every nurse and their assistants in the world for their incredible sacrifices. My nurse friend Elaine is now living away from her family and has not seen her 6 year old son in quite a while. A round of Applause! Also, a belated Felicidad Cinco de Mayo!

Recently, with streaming, I have gradually listened to more vocal music. Today, I streamed Bach's Saint Matthew's Passion. The Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki has recorded a huge number of Bach cantatas, and I have heard a few of them. For my taste, sometimes they are too safe. Not this round. This monumental work chronicling Jesus' last days is inherently solemn and this performance (review) is excellent in both performance and sonics (as is usual with BIS), and I am posting it in my music column. I had to stop to catch my breath after the heartrending track 36, the famous Alto Aria Erbame Dich, mein Gott (Have mercy Lord, for the sake of my tears). The aria is about Peter's despair after he denied knowing Jesus (info here). It is beguilingly sung by Countertenor Damien Guillon. The youtube included below is a performance of his from much earlier, with the Collegium Vocale under Phillip Herreweghe (one of my favorite period instrument groups). I do think he sings with even more expression in the BIS recording, though I prefer the youtube's lady violinist. It is important to keep in mind it is as much the violinist's music, a duet indeed. No less a violinist than Yehudi Menuhin proclaimed that the violin part of this aria is the most beautiful violin music ever written, and I tend to agree. To have a different perspective, the youtube above is sung by a female alto, though the band plays in period style; this interpretation is faster but just as powerful. It should be mentioned that Les Siecles and Francois-Xavier Roth are a hot act in the classical world now (they even play Mahler). If you read the comments, in one of the videos, a Hindu said he really felt the beauty of the music. Bach's music of Faith gets the message across and soothes, something we need during these times.

After I heard this aria, I just had to share it with you. Back to the violin - in this kind of work it is used to symbolize the divine (usually angel). A parallel can be found in Beethoven. His Missa Solemnis is a much stormier work, but in the Benedictus, the solo violin has a very prominent and tender role and engages in a similar dialogue with the soloists for about 10 minutes or more. It is a most difficult part for the violin as the music is all in the highest registers. In the bottom youtube, in the excellent recording by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Eugen Jochum, it is played to perfection by the RCO's great Concertmaster, Herman Krebbers (his several Philips recordings as soloists are coveted items). You can actually watch him in a later performance under Leonard Bernstein, though the resolution leaves something to be desired.

Different people look at religion and music differently. Some peoples and religions frown upon music. Music stirs the soul but some suspect it as a corrupting influence. Atheist peoples use music as entertainment. Fortunately, in the Western tradition, music has always been used to glorify God; otherwise, we would not have this genre of music. As religion plays less and less of a role in our lives, it is hard not to think that plays a role in the decline of classical music.