Karl Richter, the world-renowned Bach specialist who died in 1981, recorded the St. Matthew Passion at the splendid Benedictine abbey of Ottobeuren with two choruses, his Munich Bach Orchestra and the outstanding soloists Peter Schreier (Evangelist), Ernst Gerold Schramm (Jesus), Siegmund Nismgern (Judas) as well as Helen Donath, Julia Hamari, Walter Berry and Horst Laubenthal. Director Hugo Käch took the cross as his main motif for his stage setting by using a gigantic cross above the performers to suggest menace and oppression as well as protection. Richter’s style blends the solid craftsmanship of a Leipzig “cantor” and a profound need for the freedom of improvisation. “I cannot gauge the tempo from the metronome; I have to take to it from my pulse, since the pulse is linked to the center of man, the heart.” (Karl Richter)
Bach, h-Moll Messe (Mass in B minor) BWV 232
Karl Richter (1926-1981), founder of the Munich Bach Choir and Munich Bach Orchestra, was a noted conductor, organist and harpsichordist. The B minor Mass was one of his “warhorses”, which he often performed on concert tours. One of the most perceptive assessments of Richter’s reading of the B minor Mass appeared in a Munich daily following his last performance of the work in November 1980: “One of the reasons why Richter’s account of the B minor Mass is so compelling is that, in contrast to the historicizing Bach readings of today, it takes into account both the present and the 250-year-old history of Bach interpretation.” The work was filmed in the splendid Baroque abbey church of Diessen in Bavaria, which dates from Bach’s time.
Bach, Johannespassion (St. John’s Passion), BWV 245
Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Karl Richter (1926-1981) became synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra, and helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Although Richter saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music. Our recording with the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra features such world-renowned soloists as Helen Donath, Julia Hamari, Peter Schreier and Horst Laubenthal.
Händels Auferstehung (Handel’s Resurrection)
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), one of the most brilliant European writers, essayists and biographers, describes in his book “Sternstunden der Menschheit” decisive moments in the lives of great men and women of all times. “Handel’s Resurrection” is a story taken from this book. In freely adapted sequences, the film combines a great literary work and a classical musical composition. Based on motifs from Stefan Zweig’s story, the film describes a caesura in Handel’s creative life. It was a period in his life when he was almost on the brink of complete despair but finally regained new and unbounded creative power, which led to the composition of his “Messiah.” This work marks a turning point in the musical life of his time: a new form of musical composition, the oratorio, takes the place of the baroque opera of predominantly Italian influence, while at the same time competing with another operatic novelty, “The Beggar’s Opera,” an early forerunner of “The Three-Penny Opera.” Director Klaus Lindemann, who has developed a new dramatic approach for TV productions of musical works, resorts to the elements of drama to give emphasis to the ups and downs in the life of this great musician. Karl Richter conducts the Munich Bach Orchestra and Munich Bach Choir. Among the soloists is the celebrated Gundula Janowitz.