MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe

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My amazon.com care package arrived last night, and had the 1999 release of this on Harmonia Mundi. And it makes me wonder why I can buy a French release cheaper by ordering from the US. But wondering about such things gives me a mal de tÃªte, so instead, I went home and listened. And what a nice 3 hours it was.
Errrrr... First let me say that the Libretto is a real pleasure. It's all on CD-ROM, and includes scoring info, a history, an interview with PH on his interpretation, a Bach bio, and a sort of listening guide. Not too intuitive to use at first, and slow in a couple of spots, but once I got the hang of it (10 minutes) life was good.
The recording is very clean. Great sense of space and you can really feel the auditorium where it was recorded. Spot on imaging and nice broad soundstage. The overall texture is very similar to other HM recordings of Herreweghe.
I have noticed in the past that the one distracting flaw of some Herreweghe recordings seems to be a more pronounced sibilence. (A notable exception seems to be the Virgin Classics 4 CD set of Cantatas and Masses, which is brilliant.) Some of that is present here, but generally not to the same extent as some of the other HM releases.
The vocalists are the stars of the recording, as well they should be. The strings and winds are nice and pleasant accompaniment. It was nice that this was recorded all in one go, rather than in bits. The entire presentation is consistent (i.e., no mixing errors). I would make a comment (not a complaint) that the orchestra is not as pronounced as the vocalists.
Given the length (and the need to pack for Rome), I only listened once. I liked what I heard. A lot. It might be worth considering, for anyone out chasing after more Bach.

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Topic - MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Jim Willis 02:20:27 04/04/00 (9)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Ears 12:24:24 04/04/00 (0)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Brian Cheney 09:39:39 04/04/00 (3)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Rob 09:51:25 04/04/00 (2)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - BobH 13:03:46 04/04/00 (0)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Brian Cheney 10:07:19 04/04/00 (0)

Has anyone compared Herreweghe with Suzuki/BCJ? (nt) - Silver 09:26:11 04/04/00 (0)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Allan 07:54:00 04/04/00 (1)

You should see what they look like from down here. (nt) - patrick S 09:54:32 04/04/00 (0)

Re: MatthÃ¤us-Passion, Herreweghe - Rob 05:45:31 04/04/00 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.