Elisabeth Schumann - Complete Bach Recordings

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Music reviews of Complete Bach Recordings

Music Review: Bach singing from the past.
Rating: 3 Stars

Of course performances were very
different, and much less frequent, in 1929 from the way the Mass can
be heard today. Recording large choral masses of tone was a hit
and miss affair and one cannot expect the intricacies of Bach's
polyphonic writing to be clear in this ancient recording.
Nevertheless restoration work enables everything to be heard much more
easily and clearly than it ever was on the original 78s. If anyone
reading this is old enough to remember how the work sounded on its
original 78, he won't deny that the surface hiss was horrendous.
Now, it is all gone.

This first ever recording survived for more
than 20 years in the EMI catalogue. At the end of that time, when a
replacement seemed imminent, the writers of "The Record
Guide" forecast, "There is a feature of the Albert Coates
set which will not easily be matched - the solo singing of Elisabeth
Schumann and Friedrich Schorr".

Well, on these CDs the Albert
Coates set is once more available. Music lovers will be aware that of
the four soloists required in this work, the soprano has the least to
do. No solos are allotted to her and she features in only two short
duets. Lucky the collector who locates it, therefore, under the title
"Elisabeth Schumann, the Complete Bach Recordings".

Further classification problems arise with the item on the first
track - "Bist du bei mir". Although attributed to Bach in
1934, when Schumann recorded it (because it featured in Bach's
"Anna Magdelena Notebook"), it is now believed to have been
composed by Bach's contemporary, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. My
Swedish fellow reviewer who complains that Elisabeth Schumann does not
sing it in the pure Bach style(whatever that may be), is therefore
arguing from a false premise. The complaint about excessive
portamento could be met by understanding the singers of her time tried
to achieve a pure legato.

Next comes Bach's so called
"Wedding Cantata", also receiving, I believe, its first
recording (although abbreviated) and showing Elisabeth Schumann, in
very good voice, in 1939.

The next two items comprised a 78
released in 1928 - arias from the St Matthew Passion and a Bach
Cantata. This record of exquisite singing was voted in the
"Gramophone" the best vocal record of its year.

I hope
all this helps a curious or hopeful browser to gain a clear
perspective on what this set offers and what he might expect to hear.
Production is by Mark Obert-Thorn, program notes by Alan Jefferson,
and duration 157 minutes.

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