David Dalle
Thursday April 9th, 2020 with David Dalle
Passions, two extraordinary concept albums with music for Good Friday from Venice 1600-750 and late 20th century Europe.

One of the richest music traditions in the world has been music to mark the Passion. This is likely no accident, as it is an intensely human drama: betrayal, regret, political abdication of responsibility, trial, suffering, and death. It has been a source of inspiration for so much spectacular dramatic music. Every year on the Thursday before Good Friday, I explore this deep tradition. This year we will hear from two fascinating albums both released last fall, both with unique, conceptual approaches to Passion music; but both very different. The first, "Passions" by the ensemble Les Cris de Paris presents a stunning program of sacred and secular music from composers with links to Venice (and particularly St. Mark's Basilica) from 1600-1750. All these composers worked in both secular and sacred genres and the boundary separating the two was very blurry "alternating between transcendentally inspired secular music and sacred music embodied in theatrical fashion". The program is built around five settings of the Crucifixus from the Mass by Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Lotti, and Antonio Caldara which showcase a specialty of music at St. Mark's, very dense polyphonic music for many voices, ranging from 4 to 16 (simultaneous lines of music, not number of singers). A wonderful performance of dramatic and intense music, proving what still can be done with 400 year old music. The second recording is by the bold and electrifying violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja "Time & Eternity". It features an extraordinary program she created with the Camerata Bern with two parts. We heard the first part, which was inspired by the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur last December (and can still be heard here: https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/105/46141.html). The second part is Passion music, it is built around "Polptyque" for violin and two small string orchestras by the 20th century Swiss composer Frank Martin. Martin composed the work for Yehudi Menuhin in 1973 not long before his death in 1974. The work was inspired by six Byzantine-influenced picture panels of the Passion of Christ from 14th century Tuscany. The six movements are based on Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, The Last Supper, Judas, Gethsemane, Jesus condemned to death, and the Glorification of Christ in the Resurrection. However, Kopatchinskaja doesn't just perform the concerto; she breaks up the movements and follows each one with a chorale from Bach's St. John Passion in a string orchestra transcription. The chorales serve the same purpose they do in Bach's Passions, as commentary and reflection on the drama acted out in the other movements (in this case, Martin's concerto movements). One final editorial choice, Martin did not compose a movement for the largest and central panel featuring the crucifixion, so Kopatchinskaja includes the 1970 work "Crux" for violin, timpani and bells, by the Czech composer Lubos Fiser, a really stark, painful depiction. These two recordings represent exceptional and creative ideas in programming old music. I have been listening to them a lot these past few weeks; I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.