Passion-Pasticcio in the Helsinki Music Centre, the 10th of April, 2022

One can only thank Helsinki Baroque Orchestra for regular cultural super deeds. This time they brought on stage for the first time in Finland a work that is assumed to be the so called fifth passion of Johann Sebastian Bach (in addition to the St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John passions) – the Passion Pasticcio. This passion was performed for the first time on Good Friday in 1750, only a few months before Bach’s death. The word pasticcio refers to the (at that time) widely used technique to borrow music from other works and composers. In this passion there is new music, composed for the passion, old music from earlier works and parts from works by other composers. Most borrowed pieces come from Carl Heinrich Graun.  

The passion itself is very interesting and beautiful work. The soloists were soprano Ágnes Kovács, countertenor Péter Bárány, tenor Zoltán Megyesi and baritone Lóránt Najbauer, and the Hungarian Purcell Choir Budapest sang the choir parts. Megyesi did not impress me much, but the other soloists were good. The light and bright soprano of Kovács suited the passion well and the almost ethereal last notes of the soprano arias, where she sang without the orchestra, were absolutely breathtaking. I especially liked the aria ”Nimmt du die Kron der Dornen an”. Bárány was substituting a sick mezzosoprano on short notice, but managed in his job well. The duet ”Sollt ich denn / Ich will nicht von Jesu gehn” by Kovács and Bárány was excellent. Also, Najbauer’s performance got the audience humming with content.  

But the evening had two absolute stars. First of all, the Purcell Choir Budapest, whose lovely sound clearly proved that they were a group of music professionals. Even though the choir is not huge (there were 22 singers in Helsinki), the joint singing sounded as if they were a bigger choir. Absolutely stellar singing!

And the second star of the evening was without doubt the conductor Aapo Häkkinen. It is always a pleasure to follow Häkkinen’s work, because you can clearly see, how sincerely he enjoys the music. He lives and breaths the music and manages to inspire the other musicians to join him. And his role is not that of the conductor only, but he usually also plays a cembalo during the performances, just like yesterday evening, too.