The great chef Masaaki Suzuki is in Montreal for the Passion according to Saint John of Bach at the OSM. But the style or spirit that a guest conductor can really impose seems constrained and dictated by circumstances. In this case, this cultured but heterogeneous Bach does not take us very far on a spiritual level.
There Passion according to Saint John of Montreal this week owes a lot to two forms of unforeseen circumstances. The first is almost a gag. If we wanted to force the point, we would say, a little by provocation, that the guy who sings the best on this stage of the Maison symphonique did not even have the right to have his name included in the program. The line is a little forced, because others also sing well, but it is true that Geoffroy Salvas (whom we recognized from afar) does not have his name printed in the program, while his participation is not not negligible and that it is perfect in Pilate.
That’s it for the first “unexpected”. The second is interesting too. Mauro Peter, a 37-year-old Swiss tenor whom we love very much (he’s a born Tamino), came to sing the tenor arias, while Werner Güra was to play the Evangelist. But Güra was unwell. Incredibly lucky, Mauro Peter has just performed The Evangelist under the direction of Trevor Pinnock with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra last Friday and Sunday in Amsterdam! While wishing Mr. Güra a good recovery, we were greatly delighted with this change as soon as it was announced just before the concert. Facts have confirmed this hope.
Sympathize
Far from the traditional “evangelical declamation”, a bit like a medieval herald in a Wagner opera, Mauro Peter approaches the Evangelist as a narrator, in a tradition of Kammersänger (melodist). This “I’m going to tell you a story” approach can take on obviously more dramatic trappings when necessary, during the temple scene, for example.
All this is very pleasant, because, first of all, each word is intelligible and, secondly, a slightly artificial hieratic side disappears. The Evangelist also seems to get closer to the character of Jesus and what he feels since he himself is more human. He sympathizes, in a way, and that’s exactly the right thing. Sympathize comes from a Latin term meaning “to suffer with”, which gives exactly and literally in German Mitleid (mit leidensuffer with it, in passing and for the good mouth, since it is Good Friday, let us remember that Mitleid is the key term in the plot of Parsifal).
Mauro Peter found himself singing the Evangelist and the tenor arias, which is always very tiring. And was not planned. It’s the 2e tenor air which suffers from this, because “Peter the Evangelist” has to take care of himself a little and he cannot therefore put all the drama into relief. At his side, Bernhard Hansky was a noble and effective Jesus, completing a very good trio of male voices (tenor, baritone, bass-baritone).
Goldfish
For the soprano and the countertenor, the pleasure was mainly superficial. Sherezade Panthaki has a luminous timbre, but everything seems an exercise in illumination, in voice placement; an exposure of the timbre to the detriment of the message. It felt like an audition for a singing teacher obsessed with voice placement. Let’s say that the subject of the song also talks about Jesus.
As for Reginald Mobley, he has a fine and clear voice, but for the content, what a disillusionment compared to the reputation that this singer seems to be in the process of acquiring, in Europe in particular. With ” Es ist Vollbracht » (“All is accomplished”), at the moment of death on the cross, the mezzo or countertenor is entrusted with the key passage of the work. We do not remember having heard this tune sung in a more insignificant and expressively narrow way, a bit like a goldfish agitated in a bubble aquarium that is too small. No roundness, no tension, no pain, no gravity, no lines, no compassion, precisely. Just notes, emitted, out of a throat and out of context.
As for the choir, we recognized in the list of choristers the cream of the “pros” that we see here at SMAM, at La Chapelle or elsewhere. On the other hand, what we have not really been able to determine is whether they had been “released on stage” or rigorously prepared with determination by a choir director according to the precise intentions of the conductor (whose he had been warned) and assisted by a “ coach » linguistics.
The harsh and scruffy colors of 1er choir left people fearing the worst. The whole thing blended together better afterwards (2e part in particular), but we were very far from some choral magic, like La Chapelle de Québec fashioned by Bernard Labadie. It ended up being “professional” (fortunately!) and honorably presentable, but without much soul or breath.
In short, and despite the commitment of the core of instrumentalists, solos of violin(s), English horn, viola da gamba, flute or cello, it is certainly not this concert by Masaaki Suzuki that we will remember from his various visits to Montreal.