Recordings: Staged Bach Without the Staging
November 2, 2003

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

In 2001, as part of Lincoln Center's New Visions series, the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson performed two solo Bach cantatas with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music in Boston, staged by the director Peter Sellars. Even those who had problems with the starkly dramatic staging concepts had to concede that the performances were exquisite. Now Ms. Hunt Lieberson and Emmanuel Music have recorded the two cantatas, No. 82, "Ich Habe Genug" ("I Have Enough"), and No. 199, "Mein Herze Schwimmt in Blut" ("My Heart Swims in Blood"), on a Nonesuch CD, which is one the finest Bach recordings to have come along in some time.

I found Mr. Sellars's stagings gripping and revelatory. Surely, part of what makes Ms. Hunt Lieberson's performances here so emotionally rich and musically rewarding is the insight she gained from working on this project with Mr. Sellars and her other longtime Boston colleagues.

In Cantata No. 82, Ms. Hunt Lieberson portrayed a terminally ill patient in a hospital gown who, no longer able to endure what her life had become, was aching to let go and be comforted by Jesus. The recording captures the miraculous blend of soft-spoken sadness and blissful longing that Ms. Hunt Lieberson conveyed so movingly onstage.

The way she sings the aria "Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen" ("Slumber now, you weary eyes"), the softly treading melody spins round and round, each time softer and sadder, creating such a spell that you lose your sense of grounding. Has the melody come back twice? Three times? Who can say? But you don't want it to end.

The 14-member ensemble, conducted by Craig Smith, provides not just an accompaniment but a supporting musical cushion for the suffering protagonist.

The other reason these performances are so rich is that Mr. Smith and the musicians who work with him regularly at Emmanuel Church in Boston have played the 200-some surviving Bach cantatas for more than 30 years. They have played them in complete cycles on the appropriate Sundays in the liturgical year.

In 1980, Ms. Hunt Lieberson, then a freelance violist, joined that ensemble. Within a few years, singing became her primary focus. But the close connection she formed with the players radiates through these performances. As one example, the remarkable oboist Peggy Pearson, who plays prominent solo parts in both works, sounds here like Ms. Hunt Lieberson's wordless vocal partner.

Cantata No. 199 is a confession of a sinner, a "monster in God's holy eyes," who seeks redemption. In his staging, Mr. Sellars cast Ms. Hunt Lieberson as a suicidal woman in an aqua robe, doubled over with guilt.

Mr. Smith elicits a performance that quivers with quiet intensity, arrives at peaceful resignation and ends with rhythmically swinging joy. Nothing is hurried, yet the pacing is inexorable. There is no interpretive agenda here, just generous and noble music-making. And singing does not come more consolingly beautiful than Ms. Hunt Lieberson's plaintive, dusky-toned contributions on this important recording.