Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation)
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CD Details
Composer: HaydnConductor: Jacobs
Orchestra: Freiburger Barockorchester
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import, Limited Edition
CD Release Date: 2009-11-10
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi
Music reviews of Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation)
Music Review: Gutsy, Vivid Performance
Rating: 5 Stars
On its own, I must admit that Haydn's Die Schoepfung has never been one of my all-time favorites of classical western music. Part of the reason is the lack of recordings of Die Schoepfung that have that "X-factor." The closest candidate was recording by Christoph Spering for the Naxos label with Hanno Mueller-Brachman and Sunhae Im (a favorite of mine who often performs under Rene Jacobs' baton).
Die Schoepfung is one of the best examples of tone-painting. Papa Haydn wrote out musical representations of nature: rolling waves, chirping birds, gliding whales, the rays of the sun, etc. I suppose the X-factor that has been been missing from past recordings was the ability to portray such things convincingly.
As a conductor, Rene Jacobs has rarely failed to impress me. In his operatic recordings he has been successful at bringing out such varied emotional extremes, such that in an immensely "illustrative" work as Die Schoepfung, I had high expectations. I'm happy to say that he has met those expectations. Jacobs really brings out the winds during representation of the first beams of light, represented by Haydn in a simple yet stunning wide chord in triple forte. The first baritone aria where Johannes Weisser describes the rolling, foaming billows of water as God creates the sky is at once unrelenting and violent, then tranquil as Jacobs takes control of Haydn's representation of a calming sea storm.
For me, the standout singer is Johannes Weisser who has already impressively sung the title role in Jacobs's Don Giovanni. We have him here doubling as the angel Raphael and as Adam. Many listeners were taken off-guard (pleasantly or unpleasantly) but his young sounding voice - he was in his mid-twenties when he sang the Don (a casting choice which I personally thought made perfect sense.) In Die Schoepfung we find Weisser's voice much matured with a smooth and full-lower register which is so necessary in his role of the angel Raphael.
This is also the first time I've ever heard of Julia Kleiter, singing the roles of Gabriel and Eve. It is a gorgeous, strong voice that I hope Jacobs will employ in upcoming recordings.
Ever since Jacobs' Cosi Fan Tutte his signature has been his employment of a heavily improvising continuo section, and ever since his La Clemenza di Tito, there have been sections during which the fortepiano adds some lengthy improvisations to introduce recitatives. True, many may find this practice distracting, even a hindrance to the drama. Perhaps it takes a few listenings to understand it, although evidence for such a practice extending from the Baroque to late Classical is strong, especially in the music of Haendel and Mozart. It begins to sound so natural, it becomes difficult to imagine Baroque and Classical performance of recitative without such improv.
The widely varied dynamics in the orchestra and choir are ever present as always for a Rene Jacobs recording, and so much the better. Perhaps part of that "X-Factor" is that in an oratorio such as this, the orchestra and chorus must present their music in such a way as a narrator or actor delivers his/her lines. Drama is paramaount here.
This is a Die Schoepfung I will be returning to often, while Spering's Die Schoepfung is a close second.
Description of Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation)
Rene Jacobs offers a new, definitive version of Haydn's masterpiece, Die Shopfung (The Creation) as his contribution to the celebration of the bicentenary of Haydn's death. Haydn's first public performance in 1799 was a huge triumph and the work was immediately repeated twice.General CDs
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