Technical difficulties
To me the solo cantatas for alto (especially BWV 170 and 35) are some of the most challenging pieces written for the alto voice. At many moments Bach’s approach seems to be almost instrumental. There is little space to rest and breathe; Bach doesn’t compromise his music in order to make it easier for the singer. One feels that he sends out the message: “Don’t spoil this one; you’d better be good enough.” There are greatly varying levels of technical difficulty as well as levels of responsibility that a singer has to accept in Bach’s vocal music. As a student it is not always easy to have an objective view on one’s capacity and I consider it essential to have consultation with the teacher on the choice of repertoire. I was lucky to have a singing teacher (Richard Levitt) who was always very clear about whether or not he considered me to be ready for a particular Bach piece or not. I never sang the St Matthew Passion as a student, because he told me it was too challenging for an immature singer. I honoured his advice without exception and never thought he was keeping me from making my “big break”, or that I somehow knew better. I can only wish for every student a teacher who gives good advice and for every teacher a student who follows that advice.
I believe it to be very important to have considerable time to study Bach’s music. It is always a safe bet to have it almost memorised and then to revisit it again and again over a certain period. I have found, especially in recitatives, that I constantly discover new details, gain new insights and ideas for an interpretation. In order to get to a point where I feel that I have a convincing way of communicating an aria to an audience, I need to stay with it for a while. Even though we constantly change and adapt our perceptions, hasty preparation, even an intense one, will never be as convincing as one that has matured over time. Listening to an older recording, we might feel that we would do it differently today, but at the time it was a well-informed, matured interpretation. Conversely, one may feel more time should have been devoted to this piece back then.
If I know how to speak it...
The typical singers reflex action is to open a score and immediately start singing. I believe one looses an important chance to understand the meaning of an aria in doing so. Once we have heard ourselves singing a particular aria we somehow etch this memory into our mind. Later, after gathering new ideas, it will be difficult to deviate from this imprint. It’s also somehow tempting to hear a “correct” sight-singing and get too complacent about the result. Recitatives in particular gain immeasurably from being read out loud many times. There are so many different, individual ways of dramatizing a recitative that I need to find out which one will be the one I consider to be my choice. As I’ve already made clear, the idea of text and context is extremely important to me. What happened in this work before? What am I saying? It is this that makes the singing of Bach arias taken out of context, in a recital or audition, so difficult. “Es ist vollbracht” (It is accomplished) is the central moment of the St John Passion. The prophecy is fulfilled. Jesus has died and saved us all. The whole story develops to the point where it reaches these words and having followed the story until this aria, understanding its text and context makes it much easier to communicate the message when the moment arrives. It is almost impossible to draw the same kind of conviction out of nowhere in an audition, for example.
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