The Miller Matthäupassion
Apr. 10th, 2009 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylIn honour of Easter, here's the arrest of Jesus from the Goodwin and Miller realisation of the St Matthew Passion from the mid-90s. The soloists are Nancy Argenta and Jonathan Peter Kenny (briefly visible at the beginning of the excerpt are Rufus Müller as the Evangelist, Richard Jackson as Jesus and Tom Guthrie as Judas):
I'm a total sucker for Miller's semi-staging. Having the musicians grouped into a circle is pure genius; it gives the performance a wonderfully intimate and spontaneous feeling — something heightened by Paul Goodwin's only occasional appearances on camera. The whole thing really captures the spirit of the piece, making it feel like a group of early Christians gathered together to contemplate the passion and not a group of performers playing a piece of music.
It's a really pity the performance doesn't seem to be available on DVD. I'd buy it like a shot...
I'm a total sucker for Miller's semi-staging. Having the musicians grouped into a circle is pure genius; it gives the performance a wonderfully intimate and spontaneous feeling — something heightened by Paul Goodwin's only occasional appearances on camera. The whole thing really captures the spirit of the piece, making it feel like a group of early Christians gathered together to contemplate the passion and not a group of performers playing a piece of music.
It's a really pity the performance doesn't seem to be available on DVD. I'd buy it like a shot...
