Since Harnoncourt recorded the piece for the first time in September 1970 (almost fifty years ago!), the world of HIP music has changed at lightspeed. Matthew Passion I remain in awe of the complexity, depth and humanity of this ultimate masterpiece. I have returned to it a few times since as conductor (it was on top of my wish list when I returned after cancer in 2016), and every time revisit the St. I barely had enough of that time to wrap my mind around this monument. I would have to wait some twenty years before life gave me the privilege of conducting this piece, first in Tokyo in 1995, then again in 2000, this time with my own choir and orchestra, La Chapelle de Quebec and Les Violons du Roy. I remember listening to the recording over and over again, often late at night and preferably in the dark so I wouldn’t bother anybody. My room at my parents’ house was in the basement then. I spent months peeling off the score and playing the LPs until there were more scratches than music to be heard then I bought a new set. Terrifying as in terribly beautiful, but too vast to be comprehended. The opening chorus especially seemed to be the most terrifying thing I had ever heard. There were too many notes piled on top of each other in my little Eulenburg pocket score.
Both had been huge shocks to my uneducated sponge of a brain but with the St. Matthew Passion, I added it to two other Harnoncourt recordings in my collection: his B minor Mass and Christmas Oratorio.
When I procured Harnoncourt’s recording of the St. There is a story to be told about each one of them, and I share with you my memories from my first encounter with the mighty St. Though my social skills were still in formation, it was many years later that I first learned of the word “nerd.” By my teenage years I knew most of the BWV catalogue by heart. Soon enough I started buying my own recordings – mostly Bach’s oratorios and later on cantatas by Harnoncourt. Labrousse still attends most of my concerts in Québec by the way. If I’m a musician today, it is because of her. I’m sure the LPs were returned to her in very bad condition, but she never complained about it. She lent me her most precious LPs: Bach cantatas by Karl Richter, Brandenburg Concertos and Monteverdi’s Orfeo by Harnoncourt, and recorder repertoire performed by the Holy Trinity of Brüggen, Leonhardt and Bylsma. I turned 7 in 1970, and only a couple of years later was I introduced to baroque music by my music teacher in elementary school, Odette Labrousse. What were you listening to in the 70s? If some of you were not even born, not to worry, as my question is for the ancient people among our readers.Īs a leading member of the Pack of Ancients, I can tell you that the 70s were for me the years of my musical awakening. I invite you to join me on a trip down memory lane.
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