So the recording is based on an interpretation believes that you live no longer really gets to hear today, neither in the Church nor in the concert hall. Also performances that do not follow strictly the principles of historically informed performance practice, are now fresher, leaner, faster than this very solemn, but also quite weichgespühlte recording. Mind you - it has great error not:
The soloists are among the better. Peter Schreier was a technically excellent, stylistically confident evangelist. His somewhat dry timbre fits quite excellent for character of the narrator. In the resulting nine years later 1. Rilling recording it but I like it even better, because he free, less academic singing. The same is true for Arleen Auger, who sings the soprano part in two shots and in the more recent, strangely enough, younger, fresher, especially natural sounds. Annelies Burmeister sings the alto arias with nice, dark timbriertem mezzosoprano and maternal transmission. Theo Adam is in his Bach recordings usually a problem case - he was obliged by the GDR leaders more because of his great name as a world-famous Wagner singer than because he had been so adept Bach singer. In this recording, however, he has his infamous Tremolo well under control and managed the coloratura - for many bass a major hurdle - very respectable.
The Dresden Cross choir sings solemnly, with well-balanced, well-trained voices, the Dresden Philharmonic accompany large philharmonic sound.
Martin Flämig selects very slow tempo and a soft, dark, full, focused on Karajan sound sound. Instead, the counterpoint to disclose the polyphony of the music, he relies on a homogeneous sound. The echo aria "Infuses my Saviour" has no echo, the prelude to "I want to live only in your honor" sounds like Schubert, The Choir "ruler of heaven" has little temper, etc .. The big emotion seems to be the conductor to distrust, sets prefer to magnificent perfection.
Overall, this is not my recording: If a "classical" recording, then I would choose one of the two recordings Rilling (for the soloists rather the first, because of temperament the more recent). Who it especially to the soloists is, is best served, despite weaknesses in the choir with the old Karl-Richter-recording (with Fritz Wunderlich, Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Franz Crass).
Those looking for temperament, swing, transparency, should (very fast) give z. B. 2. Harnoncourt recording or Gardiner a chance.
