Bach, J.S.: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 Münchener Bach-Orchester & Karl Richter

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 / Part One
• 1No.1 Chorus: Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen09:49
• 2No.2 Evangelist, Jesus: Da Jesus diese Rede vollendet hatte01:03
• 3No.3 Choral: Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen01:09
• 4No.4a Evangelist: Da versammelten sich die Hohenpriester00:36
• 5No.4b Chorus: Ja nicht auf das Fest00:19
• 6No.6 Evangelist: Da nun Jesus war zu Bethanien00:34
• 7No.4d Chorus: Wozu dienet dieser Unrat00:42
• 8No.4e Evangelist, Jesus: Da das Jesus merkete02:07
• 9No.5 Recitative: Du lieber Heiland du01:05
• 10No.6 Aria: Buss und Reu05:30
• 11No.7 Evangelist, Judas: Da ging hin der Zwölfen einer00:43
• 12No.8 Aria: Blute nur, du liebes Herz05:24
• 13No.9a Evangelist: Aber am ersten Tage der süssen Brot00:20
• 14No.9b Chorus: Wo willst du, dass wir dir bereiten00:34
• 15No.9c Evangelist, Jesus: Er sprach: Gehet hin in die Stadt02:15
• 16No.10 Choral: Ich bin's, ich sollte büssen01:09
• 17No.11 Evangelist, Jesus, Judas: Er antwortete und sprach04:23
• 18No.12 Recitative: Wiewohl mein Herz in Tränen schwimmt01:34
• 19No.13 Aria: Ich will dir mein Herz schenken03:56
• 20No.14 Evangelist, Jesus: Und da sie den Lobgesang gesprochen hatten01:29
• 21No.15 Choral: Erkenne mich, mein Hüter01:20
• 22No.16 Evangelist, Jesus, Petrus: Petrus aber antwortete01:11
• 23No.17 Choral: Ich will hier bei dir stehen01:18
• 24No.18 Evangelist, Jesus: Da kam Jesus mit ihnen zu einem Hofe02:32
• 25No.19 Recitative: O Schmerz! hier zittert das gequälte Herz02:07
• 26No.20 Aria And Chorus: Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen / So schlafen unsre Sünden ein05:23
• 27No.21 Evangelist, Jesus: Und ging hin ein wenig00:55
• 28No.22 Recitative: Der Heiland fällt vor seinem Vater nieder01:19
• 29No.23 Aria: Gerne will ich mich bequemen04:41
• 30No.24 Evangelist, Jesus: Und er kam zu seinen Jüngern01:42
• 31No.25 Choral: Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit01:07
• 32No.26 Evangelist, Jesus, Judas: Und er kam und fand sie aber schlafend03:09
• 33No.27 Aria And Chorus: So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen / Sind Blitze, sind Donner05:01
• 34No.28 Evangelist, Jesus: Und siehe, einer aus denen03:20
• 35No.29 Choral: O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß06:47
• St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 / Part Two
• 36No.30 Aria: Ach nun ist mein Jesu hin04:00
• 37No.31 Evangelist: Die aber Jesum gegriffen hatten01:05
• 38No.32 Choral: Mir hat die Welt trüglich gericht00:52
• 39No.33 Evangelist, Pontifex, Testis: Und wiewohl viel falsche Zeugen herzutraten01:28
• 40No.34 Recitative: Mein Jesus schweigt zu falschen Lügen stille01:14
• 41No.35 Aria: Geduld03:44
• 42No.36 Evangelist, Pontifex, Jesus, Chorus: Und der Hohepriester antwortete01:48
• 43No.36c Evangelist: Da speieten sie aus in sein Angesicht00:42
• 44No.37 Choral: Wer hat dich so geschlagen01:00
• 45No.38a Evangelist, Ancilla, Petrus: Petrus aber sass draussen im Palast00:58
• 46No.46 Chorus, Evangelist, Petrus: Wahrlich, du bist auch einer von denen / Da hub er an, sich zu verflugen01:40
• 47No.39 Aria: Erbarme dich07:46
• 48No.40 Choral: Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen01:10
• 49No.41a Evangelist, Judas: Des Morgens aber hielten alle Hohepriester01:13
• 50No.41c Evangelist, Pontifex: Und er warf die Silberlinge in den Tempel00:48
• 51No.42 Aria: Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder03:12
• 52No.43 Evangelist, Pilatus, Jesus: Sie hielten aber einen Rat02:50
• 53No.44 Choral: Befiehl du deine Wege01:28
• 54No.45 Evangelist, Pilatus, Uxor Pilati, Chorus: Auf das Fest aber hatte der Landpfleger Gewohnheit02:44
• 55No.46 Choral: Wie wunderbarlich ist doch diese Strafe01:15
• 56No.47 Evangelist, Pilatus: Der Landpfleger sagte00:15
• 57No.48 Recitative: Er hat uns allen wohlgetan01:18
• 58No.49 Aria: Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben04:29
• 59No.50 Evangelist, Chorus, Pilatus: Sie schrieen aber noch mehr02:10
• 60No.51 Recitative: Erbarm es Gott01:01
• 61No.52 Aria: Können Tränen meiner Wangen08:03
• 62No.53 Evangelist, Chorus: Da nahmen die Kriegsknechte01:18
• 63No.54 Choral: O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden02:59
• 64No.55 Evangelist: Und da sie ihn verspottet hatten01:12
• 65No.56 Recitative: Ja freilich will in uns das Fleisch und Blut00:41
• 66No.57 Aria: Komm, süsses Kreuz06:26
• 67No.58 Evangelist, Chorus: Und da sie an die Stätte kamen03:38
• 68No.58e Evangelist: Desgleichen schmäheten ihn auch die Mörder00:21
• 69No.59 Recitative: Ach Golgatha01:41
• 70No.60 Aria: Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand03:51
• 71No.61 Evangelist, Jesus, Chorus: Und von der sechsten Stunde an02:59
• 72No.62 Choral: Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden02:02
• 73No.63 Evangelist, Chorus: Und siehe da, der Vorhang im Tempel zerriss02:34
• 74No.63c Evangelist: Und es waren viel Weiber da01:33
• 75No.64 Recitative: Am Abend, da es kühle war02:15
• 76No.65 Aria: Mache dich, mein Herze, rein07:08
• 77No.66 Evangelist, Chorus, Pilatus: Und Joseph nahm den Leib02:54
• 78No.67 Recitative: Nun ist der Herr zur Ruh gebracht02:30
• 79No.68 Chorus: Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder06:27
• Total Runtime03:17:15

Info for Bach, J.S.: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244

How often a maestro’s return to his Alma Mater results in a pale reflection of previous glories—and how ironic it is that the second attempt often occurs because of the success of the original enterprise. This is certainly so in Karl Richter’s two recordings of the St Matthew Passion, where the freshness and pure theatre of the first, made in 1958, yield to a luxuriant but comparatively sentimental and over-cooked account 18 months before Richter's death in 1981. Listening to the former in its re-released state is a revelation and it must surely glow as brightly as any great recording landmark of the 1950s. The 32-year-old Richter was at the height of his powers at this time. Committed to the spirit inhabited by his famous predecessor at St Thomas’s and steeped in the intense and resolute Lutheran culture, he exhibits something of an unselfconscious obsession to deliver Bach’s greatest rhetorical drama with profound expression. The scene is appropriately set in the opening chorus which unfolds deeply bowed and long-breathed and yet not so grave and reverential as to become oppressive as it does 20 years later. Similarly, the chorales here are forthright and highly-charged, direct and concentrated as opposed to ponderous and mannered in the later recording. It is hard to know which of the versions employs larger choral forces but, being Richter, neither is short of a full and muscular capacity. The difference, however, is that the earlier recording proffers light touches (try “Wo willst du", on the first disc, track 14) and a range of clear articulations in the crowd scenes which in the later Munich Bach Choir are obscured by turgid and cloying textures. …

Ernst Haefliger, Tenor
Kieth Engen, Bass
Irmgard Seefried, Sopran
Antonia Fahberg, Sopran
Hertha Töpper, Alt
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Bass
Max Probest, Bass
Münchener Bach-Chor
Münchener Bach-Orchester
Karl Richter, Dirigent

Recorded 23 June - 6 July, 11-12 & 21 August , 1958, Herkulessaal, München

Digitally remastered

Karl Richter
(15 October 1926 – 15 February 1981) was a German conductor, choirmaster, organist, and harpsichordist. He was born in Plauen and studied first in Dresden, where he was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor and later in Leipzig, where he received his degree in 1949. He studied with Günther Ramin, Carl Straube and Rudolf Mauersberger. In the same year, he became organist at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach was once Musical Director. In 1951 he moved to Munich, where he taught at the conservatory and was cantor and organist at St. Mark's Church. He also conducted the Münchener Bach-Chor starting in 1954 and the Münchener Bach-Orchester. In the 1960s and 1970s he recorded a lot and toured Japan, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

He played and conducted a wide range of music (sacred works from Heinrich Schütz to Max Reger, as well as the symphonic and concerto repertoire of the Classical and Romantic period even including Bruckner's symphonies), but is best remembered for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach and Handel. Richter's performances were known for their soul-searching, intense and festive manner. He avoided the fluctuations in tempi that were then characteristic of the prevailing Romantic manner of conducting Bach, and devoted much attention to the woodwinds and to balance. His recordings from 1958-70 are notable for "discipline, rhythmic tautness and expressive intensity."

As well as a conductor, Richter is also remembered as an excellent organist. His performances of Bach's organ works are known for their imposing registrations and favorable pace.

In the 1970s, according to Nicholas Anderson, "with the growing interest in historically aware performance... Richter's values were questioned"; in 1981, "a victim of passing fashion and changing taste, he died an embittered man." While staying in a hotel in Munich in 1981 he suffered a fatal heart attack, and was buried in the Enzenbühl cemetery in Zurich eight days later.

Munich Bach Orchestra
"Heavyweight from Munich brings lightness into the play … With vitality, joy of playing, soloistic perfection and well-attuned to each other, there resounded a Bach … in a very unique interpretation …, which arrives in the present without an urge to modernize. Music full of temperament flows through the church." (Quedlinburger Musiksommer 2011)

After founding the Munich Bach Choir in 1954, Karl Richter also established the Munich Bach Orchestra and soon formed it into a leading international ensemble. The orchestra achieved its prominent reputation above all with its Bach interpretations during major concert tours from Paris and Moscow to Tokyo and New York.

This was complemented by numerous recordings (Deutsche Grammophon) as well as television and radio productions - some with the outstanding singers and instrumentalists of the 1960s and 1970s (including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Fritz Wunderlich, Edith Mathis and Maurice André). During this time, the great works from Bach to Beethoven were recorded. Before the advent of historically informed performance practice, the Bach Orchestra was nearly unrivaled in its field.

Its guest conductors included major figures such as Leonard Bernstein and Bruno Weil as well as baroque specialist Peter Schreier. After Karl Richter and Hanns-Martin Schneidt, the young conductor, organist and harpsichordist Hansjörg Albrecht assumed leadership of the renowned Munich Bach Orchestra, which now continues its artistic activities with historically informed performance practice and creative revival of the great Munich Bach tradition.

In 2011, the Munich Bach Orchestra recorded Mahler's "Song of the Earth" ("Das Lied von der Erde") in a new version for chamber orchestra and four soloists. Recent concerts took the ensemble to the festivals "Europäische Wochen Passau", "Musikfestspiele Saar" and "Quedlinburger Musiksommer", to the Baden-Baden Festival Hall and several times to Italy. The orchestra has worked with such singers as Sibylla Rubens, Marlis Petersen, Simone Kermes and Klaus Florian Vogt as well as with instrumental soloists such as Vilde Frang, Alina Pogostkina, Mirijam Contzen and Adrian Brendel.

In 2014, the Bach Orchestra will follow an invitation for a concert tour through Japan. With the performance of the Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach the orchestra will appear at, among others, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and Osaka Symphony Hall.

Booklet for Bach, J.S.: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244