Bach's Mass in B Minor
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- University of Toronto MacMillan Singers and Bach Festival Singers
- Helmuth Rilling, conductor
- At Roy Thomson Hall
- In Toronto on Thursday
The musical glory of the Christian world came nearly completely to life at Roy Thomson Hall on Thursday night. Johann Sebastian Bach's vast, sublime B-minor setting of the Latin Mass, with its great Greek opening supplication, Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison - "Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us" - had a remarkable performance under the senior German conductor Helmuth Rilling.
The University of Toronto MacMillan Singers and Bach Singers, core members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a quartet of solo singers of which two were above average and two were phenomenal, coalesced under the authoritative guidance of Rilling to inhabit Bach's music with vigour, finesse and insight.
Rilling, now in his mid-70s, brings to the task a dedicated lifetime of Bach scholarship and a vast experience of Bach performance. He has every note of the mass engraved deeply on his consciousness, and has arrived at his way of doing it through unremitting trial, not much error, and a complete submission of the self to the responsibilities of conveying Bach's music. One may wish at times he would allow his heart more freedom and his imagination more leeway, but one can never doubt his preparedness or his resolve.
The two youthful choirs, splendidly prepared by their director Doreen Rao, did everything Rilling asked of them, including a couple of things I found manneristic, such as the arch subdivision of the second syllable of "eleison," making it into a series of detached sounds ("eh-eh-eh"). Elsewhere, however, with Rilling's encouragement, they rose to exceptional heights of involvement: in the sequence of the hushed Et incarnatus est; in the rich exfoliation of the linked last choruses of the Credo; and in several other key choruses, including the massive, sonorous final Dona nobis pacem.
Only the Sanctus came over as a bit rushed and matter-of-fact. The great indelible, octave-dropping strokes of the striding male voices lacked the intensity and surging power they can exude, and the angelic triplet twinings overhead of the women's voices in sweet harmony seemed insufficiently lofty and airborne. But the subsequent Osannas came dazzlingly to the rescue.
Of the soloists, soprano Emily Hindrichs was clear, musical and modestly responsive to Rilling's demands. Young, healthy-voiced baritone Andrew Foster-Williams had not the range to project the low notes of his thankless aria, Quoniam tu solus sanctus, which need a bright, focused basso cantante to illuminate them. (The gorgeously played horn obbligato redeemed this one.) But Foster-Williams sounded much better in his second aria, Et in Spiritum sanctum.
The other two soloists were simply magnificent, the best I've ever heard in this music. Tenor Lawrence Wiliford melted our reserves in Domine Deus, his duet with the soprano. His soaring, heartfelt response to the buoyant music fulfilled it utterly. And his rapt, luminous projection of his final aria, the Benedictus, was perfection. Wiliford has become a matchless artist in his chosen repertoire.
The German contralto Ingeborg Danz was the other revelation. Her Laudemus te in Part One was a triumph in spite of Rilling's too-strict and too-quick tempo. And her flexible, gleaming sound brought rare warmth to her second aria, Qui sedes ad dexteram Patria. But her final aria, the suppliant Agnus Dei, was heartbreaking in its tenderness and musical acuity. This was consummate Bach singing, miles above and beyond the academic vocalizing norm.
The Mass in B Minor is a work of profound variety and depth, complex and multifaceted. Dozens of things can go wrong in any performance of it. It's rare indeed, and a real joy, to hear a performance with as much right about it as this one.
The Mass in B Minor is performed again Saturrday night at 8 o'clock.
Special to The Globe and Mail