Hermann Max - Telemann: Markus-Passion 1759 (2020)

A previously unknown contemporary score of the St. Mark Passion falsely ascribed to Johann Heinrich Rolle recently came to light in Brussels. Due to the new identification of the copyist’s hand, a largely original version of Georg Philipp Telemann’s St. Mark’s Passion of 1759 is now available, reflected in this recording. Freshly penned “poetical reflections” were added to the Evangelist’s text. The anonymous, theologically educated author of these reflective arias and accompagnati, who in consultation with the composer also chose the selection of church songs and designed the overall structure of the libretto, coordinated the sacred message of the text with a finely calculated affective dramaturgy. The various affective areas developed by the composer are in each case modeled on the situations depicted in the recitatives. Here extremely harsh affective contrasts could exist side by side within a single aria. Remarkably, for the Evangelist’s part the recently discovered source prescribes a male alto, not the otherwise customary tenor. For the present recording Hermann Max decided to transpose the alto part down by an octave into the baritone range.

Veronika Winter (soprano), Anne Bierwirth (alto), Georg Poplutz (tenor), Markus Flaig (bass), Ekkehard Abele (bass), Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max