Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Messe en si mineur, BWV 232

Gli Angeli Genève

Aleksandra Lewandowska, soprano
Zoë Brookshaw, soprano
Marianne Beate Kielland, mezzo-soprano
Alex Potter, alto
Valerio Contaldo, ténor
Alexis Kossenko, traverso
Emmanuel Laporte, hautbois
Olivier Picon, cor
Guy Ferber, trompette
Leila Schayegh, violon
Roel Dieltiens, violoncelle

Stephan MacLeod, basse, direction

Faisant fi de toute polémique musicologique et après avoir chanté et dirigé les deux Passions de Bach et son Magnificat, Stephan MacLeod et son ensemble Gli Angeli Genève abordent la Messe en Si de la même façon : une dizaine de chanteurs au total et deux chanteurs par partie. Effectif commun aux oratorios de C.P.E. Bach ou aux Messes de Joseph Haydn. Plus prosaïquement, il justifie son choix en convoquant les chanteurs qu'il a sous la main. Raison historiquement pertinente, Bach faisait de même pour ses cantates. Privilégiant aussi la parole à l'orchestre, MacLeod place ses chanteurs devant l'orchestre. A l'écoute des tutti, les voix des solistes se détachent effectivement et notamment le merveilleux timbre de miel de la basse Stephen MacLeod qui imprime sa marque dans la totalité de l’œuvre, dirigeant avec des tempi généralement modérés (Le Kyrie pris assez prudemment) et laissant surtout s'épanouir les voix, la parole et le texte, remarquablement soutenu par un orchestre aguerri comptant de belles individualités (Kossenko, Schayeg, Dieltens). Peu importe que les airs et duos solistes manquent de charisme (Un Laudamus te assez terne) les parties chorales pourtant ici considérablement réduites mais qui constituent les fondations de la Messe, rayonnent littéralement et l'emportent aisément sur le reste. L'orchestre sait d'ailleurs se montrer très réactif (Cum sancto spiritu). Une version light d'une homogénéité souveraine et dotée d'un savant mélange de ferveur et d'humilité qui vaut largement un petit séjour en Suisse et l'opportunité de voir Gli Angeli en concert. (Jérôme Angouillant)

For years now, musicology and musicians have been addressing the question of the vocal forces that Johann Sebastian Bach had at his disposal for his cantatas and passions. With the help of occasionally newly discovered sources and in-depth studies, we have been able to find enlightening answers to a problem that is essential for the interpretation of his music. In this context, it seems important to me to make it clear that we did not approach the Mass in B minor if with an ensemble of ten singers for the sake of authenticity, nor to assert our point of view on how things should or should not be done. We sometimes forget in the quest for authenticity that musicians, then as now, have always been pragmatic and have always been willing to adapt to different constraints: budgets, tuning forks, numbers, available instruments, etc. Historical reality alone is therefore not systematically a notion as relevant as all that, and we have no ambition to take part in the often-fascinating debates that such research gives rise to. If our work can contribute to the development of certain points of view, give relevance to others, cause people to react, and help the progress of certain ideas and convictions, so much the better, but our own motivations are different. From its creation in 2005, Gli Angeli Genève has approached Bach’s music with two singers per part: i. e. eight singers for most of the cantatas, eight singers for the St John Passion, sixteen for the St Matthew Passion and its two choirs (as our recording published by Claves in April 2020 shows), ten for the Magnificat (where the choirs have five parts) or for the Mass in B minor (where a complement of twelve singers would be more logical because of the six-part Sanctus). Two singers per part in the choirs is the number of singers in Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach’s choir for many of his great oratorios, and the number of singers in Joseph Haydn’s choir for many of his masses. But here again, these historical realities are not the basis of our approach and choice. A musician may be justified in his need to legitimize his aesthetic choices by his knowledge of history, but if the search for authenticity becomes the sole driving force behind his work, he may go astray. It is therefore another factor that attracts and motivates us.