Bozar invited Ton Koopman with his Amsterdams Baroque Orchestra and at Flagey it was the Collegium Vocale Gent who was the guest. Without his Phillipe Herreweghe but with Christoph Prégardien. As conductor this time. You could tell in advance that it would be enjoyable. And of course it's tempting to compare the two performances. Okay, here we go then.
The opening is well known, with that sparkling "Juicht en Jubelt". The story is familiar enough. In a nutshell, it's also in all those nearly forgotten Christmas carols about the "little shepherds lay in the night …" But when the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra of Ton Koopman starts that opening choir, you really get blown away in a different way than by pretty Christmas carols. Always overwhelming, not so much because of a hard-hitting entry - although the choir sounded louder than the orchestra - but because of that sparkle in the blend of timpani, trumpets and woodwinds supported by fiery strings under the direction of an enthusiastic conductor.
Ton Koopman: "Yes, enthusiastic, how could it be otherwise, from the moment your profession is your hobby and you can fully express yourself in it, what could be more beautiful than doing that. I just turned 75 but I don't feel 75. It's wonderful to make music with young people. Music is harmony and in that harmony there must be pleasure in making music together. But there must also be daring, not just going along carelessly, no, you must dare to take risks, go for the music and if it works out, it's wonderful."
That harmony was there and so was that driving baroque rhythm. Koopman certainly has the reputation of being impetuous, but his baroque specialists this time took a still reasonable tempo, although I missed clarity. When I heard the Collegium Vocale the next day, there was also that harmony as well as that driving force, but perhaps sounding less 'hard', more 'dancelike'. Looking for a word to characterize that different style, I can only come up with 'restraint': that pure finish, not just impetuousness. The Amsterdam Baroque Choir, which Koopman founded in 1992, sounded wonderful and his soloists too, especially tenor Tilman Lichdi. But the Collegium Vocale sounds so perfectly homogeneous under the direction of guest conductor Christoph Prégardien, with his son, tenor Julian, engaged as narrator evangelist in the choir. Julian Prégardien: "That's quite special, yes, I can see my father conducting but I hardly dare look at him…". And father Prégardien? "Yes, I can believe that, that is also very emotional for me. That he so beautifully performs that evangelist role under my direction is truly a special Christmas gift for me".
There are the sustained recitatives, Ton Koopman supports them himself, standing at the organ, there are the successive choir parts and also the arias. Bach admittedly wrote no operas, but his arias need not take second place to any opera composer. In the second cantata there's such a wonderful aria, "Frohe Hirten…". In the melodic line of tenor Julian Prégardien, dialoguing together with the traverso of Patrick Beuckels, you hear the playful little sheep skipping toward the baby Jesus. Also so in that long lullaby "Schlafe mein Liebster". With Koopman sung by prima alt Franziska Gottwald, but with Collegium Vocale by rising star among the countertenors, Alex Potter. What a different experience.
Where the second cantata began with a Sinfonia, the third cantata starts again quite cheerfully with orchestra and choir, followed by a remarkable duet with something at which Bach is such a master: voices interwoven with each other and with his beloved woodwinds. In that duet for soprano and bass for example "Herr dein Mitleid…". And shortly after in that aria for the alto, in conversation with the violin. Such varied and melismatic play with the people and means at his disposal. The fourth cantata too has an opening choir, this time with that beautiful but often uncertain sound of the horns, very audible with the Amsterdammers. And then that incomparable echo aria, for soprano, 'echo soprano' and oboe. It must be said, the Collegium from Gent has quite an advantage here with their oboists and this time not only with Marcel Ponseele. Colleague and former student of his Timothée Oudinot soloed here extraordinarily. If there's one instrument you could call THE Bach instrument, it's surely the oboe? Marcel Ponseele: "Bach had a very good oboist, also a town musician, and the most beautiful literature written for that instrument, Bach actually wrote for that man. I'm glad that literature exists because after Mozart, yes, he wrote a concerto for it too, it disappeared completely in the 19th century." Ton Koopman can only agree: "If you think that Gleditsch, the man who first played all those Bach pieces, must have studied like mad... But what a wonderful life he had! Being able to perform all those beautiful pieces first and then with such a genius conductor as Bach!".
The lithe grace with which the 75-year-old Koopman conducts stands almost at odds with the quiet assurance with which Christoph Prégardien stands before the Collegium Vocale. All professional baroque specialists, but would it have sounded so professional with Bach ? Ton Koopman : "I think so, because Bach was a genius and a genius cannot accept that something is mediocre. We, poor people, can….". Although his real profession is singing, Christoph Prégardien is also delighted to stand before such a select ensemble. "I have worked much with Herreweghe as a singer and that knowledge and experience that I have gained with him I also want to pass on when I stand before his singers and orchestra. I do it gladly and it gives me a good feeling to be able to do so". Does he feel like a Stellvertreter, a substitute for Herreweghe ? "Absolutely not, I would not dare to presume such a claim. But Philippe has so much work this year with the 50th anniversary of the choir that he asked me to do it. It is a gift and I am grateful for it".
At BOZAR, Koopman limits himself to four cantatas out of six, in an evening-length programme. At Flagey, the Collegium Vocale performed all six cantatas, divided into an afternoon and an evening concert. This allowed us to fully enjoy Peter Kooij in the aria 'Erleucht auch meine finstre Sinnen', for bass and Marcel Ponseele's oboe d'amore, and shortly afterwards the beautiful terzetto 'Ach, wenn wird die Zeit…' for soprano (Hana Blazikova), countertenor and tenor. In the final section came the closing chorus with that reminiscence of the famous 'head full of blood and wounds'. One of many examples of Bach's recycling or 'parodying'. The whole concludes firmly with the brass instruments, as at the beginning of the Christmas oratorio.
The audience appreciated the young tenor Julian Prégardien with hearty applause but did so absolutely for the other singers, the entire choir and the orchestra members. At BOZAR and Koopman the applause was louder, but more people could fit there, of course. At Koopman's there was room for a Christmas carol as an encore. In both cases, there hung almost an air of reverence during the performances that you do not easily find at concerts with 19th-century music. Thus Bach fans honor their master and it is not for nothing that his Weihnachtsoratorium rose in Klara's Top 100 this year from 8 to 5.
Final assessment ? Collegium Vocale wins on points with me over the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Koopman's tempestuous conducting style works contagiously, but with Christoph Prégardien's sober approach you can tell he has studied with Herreweghe. It was on the one hand lively and on the other restrained, but both performances provided a splendid weekend.
- WHAT : Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248, J.S Bach, cantatas I-IV
- WHO : Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Amsterdam Baroque Choir, conducted by Ton Koopman with soloists Martha Bosch (soprano), Franziska Gottwald (alto), Tilman Lichdi (tenor) Klaus Mertens (bass).
- WHERE : BOZAR, Brussels
- WHEN : Friday 14 December 2019
- PHOTO: mt
- WHAT : Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248, J.S Bach, cantatas I-VI
- WHO : Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Christoph Prégardien with soloists Hana Blazikova (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Julian Prégardien (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass).
- WHERE: Flagey, Brussels
- WHEN : Saturday 15 December 2019
- PHOTO: © Roger Creyf
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