THE TIMES
Residency at Spitalfields Music (24 Dec 2008)
Four Stars
You could never accuse John Eliot Gardiner of doing Bach by halves. He is the man who performed all 200-odd cantatas in a year to mark the composer's 250th anniversary. But this Christmas he is definitely doing Bach by sixths. His immaculate Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are presenting the six cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio on six different evenings, each accompanied by one of Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos and one of his six motets.
Gardiner claims that the number six had special metaphysical meaning for Bach. That might be true, but so did 3, 14 and 41. Better, perhaps, to admire the scheme's practicality. The six cantatas each require different instruments. Bach himself would have spread them out over six days at Christmas. And by intermingling them with different sorts of music by the same composer you avoid ear fatigue and Lutheran theology overload.
Gardiner has also chosen an historically perfect venue for his series (which runs to January 8 and is broadcast on Radio 3). It's the magnificent Christ Church, built by Hawksmoor in Spitalfields as Bach was writing his cantatas in Leipzig. The downside? Its generous acoustics tended to obscure the rich tapestry of lower strings showcased in the opening concert by the Sixth Brandenburg. A pity; with such spirited playing one longed to hear every scurrying semiquaver.
The choral side was another matter. The Monteverdi Choir sounded, and looked, utterly swept up in the spiritual joy of this music. The oratorio's opening chorus, Jauchzet, frolocket!, had terrific verve - every explosive German consonant relished, every phrase shaped with celebratory flair. The chorales, by contrast, were oases of tenderness. And how refreshing to have soloists (Nicholas Mulroy, Clare Wilkinson and Matthew Brook) who had memorised the music and sang it with compelling directness and conviction. If I had reservations, they concerned Gardiner's ultra-expressive approach to the motet Komm, Jesu, Komm. It's impressive to hear a choir achieve such super-subtle layers of nuance. But at times it teetered on the verge of affectation. Less is sometimes more.
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Richard Morrison
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