Philippe Herreweghe conducts the Collegium Vocale Gent and the Israel Camerata Jerusalem in works of Mozart and Beethoven. Vocal soloists: Elisabeth Breuer, Olivia Vermeulen, Daniel Johannsen and Thomas E. Bauer

 

Photo: Shirley Burdick

It was difficult to assess which aspect of this program had drawn such a large audience - the line-up of outstanding artists or people's curiosity to hear seldom-performed works of Mozart and Beethoven. For me, it was both. Taking place in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre on April 16th 2023, "The Great Classic", a concert of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem's Instruvocal Series featured the Collegium Vocale Gent (Belgium), soprano Elisabeth Breuer (Austria), mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen (Holland), tenor Daniel Johannsen (Austria), baritone Thomas E. Bauer (Germany) and eminent Belgian conductor and scholar Philippe Herreweghe. 

 

The event opened with “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”, a short work for chorus and orchestra composed (1814-1815) by Beethoven to a text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Beethoven loved Goethe’s poetry and set it to music repeatedly. A few years after the two met in 1812, Beethoven set Goethe’s popular pair of short poems "Meeres Stille" and "Glückliche Fahrt" as his opus 112, dedicating it to Goethe. Setting the scene for "Calm Sea", performance of the short tone poem opened with fragile, sotto voce choral timbres (the choir giving much emphasis to the various consonants) backed by plucked notes in the strings to evoke the motionlessness of a windless sea, then to be punctuated by Beethoven's startling treatment of “fürchterlich” (terrible), for example, highlighting  the word with a stinging dissonance, or of “Weite” (distances”) where, in the latter, a high soprano note in a sudden fortissimo crowns a massive  dissonant chord. Here, Beethoven enlists unorthodox procedures to convey the perilousness of sailing in such calm conditions. Issued in by a fluttering figure in the 'cellos, the journey is now underway again, with "Prosperous Journey", evoked in a massive choral and orchestral scene, rugged and fearfully joyous. Here, the audience becomes aware of Maestro Herreweghe's experiential approach to music (and poetry), with Collegium Vocale Gent (established by him in 1970) together with the Camerata players convincing in their expounding of the Romantic period's intrigue with storms and the sublimity of nature. It remains unclear why this substantive late Beethoven work has been condemned to obscurity and neglect. On completing it, the composer sent Goethe a copy, expressing that “I had united my harmony with yours in appropriate fashion.” Sadly, Goethe sent him no reply.

 

As to Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.1 Op.21, the composer was 30 when it was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported that “this proved to be the most interesting concert we have had in a long time" with Beethoven's symphony displaying "great artistry, innovation, and a wealth of ideas; except that the winds were overused, so that it was music for a band rather than for the whole orchestra.”  For me, hearing the work played by a chamber orchestra was a revelation. Herreweghe and the Camerata members brought out its fine details, nuances and colours, the work's vitality (the Menuetto is indeed a Scherzo!), its elegance, charm and sense of well-being. Add to those qualities Beethoven's audacity and teasing humour in the first- and fourth movements. Here was the music of a Beethoven not yet a burdened man, not yet a man grappling with fate. As to the criticism aired in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung following the symphony's premiere, the work indeed showcases the winds; the distinctive artistry and beauty of sound of the Camerata's wind players is never short of rewarding.

 

Accessible as it is to the listener, W.A.Mozart's Mass in C minor (Grand Mass) K.427 presents a number of unanswered questions. As to the task of completing it, Mozart wrote to his father on January 4, 1783: ."It is quite true about my moral obligation... I made the promise and hope to be able to keep it"...The fact remains that Mozart never completed the work. What is known is that it was first performed on August 25 1783 in St Peter’s Church, Salzburg. It is likely that Mozart's wife Constanze sang the high-lying first soprano part. Mozart himself may have presided at the organ. What is not known is how or, in fact, whether the missing sections were filled in at the Salzburg performance. And there is also no consensus on why Mozart wrote the C minor Mass. A perfect combination of all the genres and styles known in the late 18th century, from early polyphony to the galant style, it is nevertheless a wonderfully balanced musical unity, in spite of its incompleteness. Reconstructions of this tremendous creation only began in the early 20th century, instigated by the efforts of German musicologist Alois Schmitt. His pioneering edition has since been superseded, most significantly by that of American scholar H. C. Robbins Landon (and by several others, those including Robert Levin, Frieder Bernius/Uwe Wolf and Helmut Eder.) The version performed at the Israel Camerata Jerusalem concert was that of Robbins Landon. The work, featuring a double choir at the centre of each of its two halves, is a celebration of choral writing and Maestro Herreweghe and his very excellent Collegium singers certainly did not disappoint. The grandiose "Qui tollis" in G minor, probably the climax of the piece, with its haunting dotted rhythms, grating dissonances, chromaticism and extreme dynamic changes, emerged imposing and humbling. The lion's share of the solos belongs to the female singers. Enlisting her outstanding technical skills, soprano Elisabeth Breuer gave delicate and deeply moving portrayals of the “Christe eleison” in the “Kyrie” (taking on its two octave-and-a-half leaps with ease), then executing the coloratura passages of the composition’s vocal centrepiece "Et incarnatus est" with brilliance and poignance, the piece's intimate setting involving three solo instrumental lines at the hands of Muki Zohar (oboe), Mauricio Paez (bassoon) and Esti Rofe (flute). For the "Laudamus te", Olivia Vermeulen, her voice warm and finely-anchored, contended admirably with the dynamics, the shaping and melismatic course of the movement. Tenor Daniel Johannsen is no new face (indeed, no new voice!) to Israeli audiences. His profound understanding of sacred works always shines through his textual and musical delivery. The "Quoniam tu", featuring Breuer, Vermeulen and Johannsen, resounded radiant and exhilarating, indeed, constituting a highlight of what was altogether a sparkling performance. It was H.C.Robbins Landon who had referred to the last month of the year 1791 as "the greatest tragedy in the history of music" with the premature death of the thirty-five-year-old Mozart.