Word: obbligatos
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...last four section of Part I were striking: the chorale and recitative beautifully mixed sole and chorus passengers. The air for baritone with trumpet obbligato was played with sensitivity to text and expression. The solo trumpet did not overwhelm the singer and played with clean attacks, soft trills, and smooth phrasing in the upward-receiving suspensions...
PART II OF The Oratorio contrasts vividly with the trumpets-and-drums splendor that precedes it. The scoring eliminates the festive instruments entirely and the accompaniments are lighter: a flute is used in two obbligato roles. The one aria had a trio-sonata texture with tenor soloist, flute, and continuo. This form was a special favorite of Bach's for which be wrote some of his best counterpoint. The simplicity and clarity of singer and flutist filled the entire church and maintained the spell throughout the aria...
...though they were generally fast by standards of only twenty years ago (such as on the Scherchen recording of 1952). Richter had the courage to vary the tempi quite a bit to his taste. The bass aria Quoniam tu solus was taken very slowly. The horn playing in the obbligato solo to this aria is the best that might ever be expected. The soloist exhibited a precision of control that allowed for the most subtle variation in tone, dynamics and attack while preserving melodic integrity. Even his placement on the stage was perfectly coordinated to bounce the horn's sound...
...orchestral playing was in every way equal to the singing. In addition to the perfect horn obbligato, the other soloists were very good. The oboes, flutes, and violins all accompanied with great care. The rarely-played Aeolian-Skinner organ of Symphony Hall was used with registrations quite appropriate to its role as a continuo instrument. It was especially effective in the Cum sancto spiritu and the exultant Et expecto resurrectionem...
...only flaw in programming was the dull Bach Cantata No. 51. Not even a magnificent trumpet obbligato part could redeem the initial aria. Joan Heller, the soprano soloist,' has a beautiful voice remarkable for its evenness. Her diction was good and one could only wish for more variation in dynamics. It was a mistake to use a harpsichord against the full string body: Gerald Moshell pushed the instrument as much as possible and all it produced was a distracting non-tonal jangle. With smaller forces, though, it was quite adequate; and the continuo playing included some appropriate ritards...