Bach: St Matthew Passion | Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen | Sir Stephen Cleobury

Stream, download or order: smarturl.it/Ma...
The opening chorus from one of the greatest masterpieces of sacred music, J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion. Taken from the new recording by Sir Stephen Cleobury with the Academy of Ancient Music, available from 27 March 2020 to stream, download & on SACD with HD surround sound.
Subscribe to the King's College Choir's channel: smarturl.it/KC...
© 2020 King's College Recordings - www.kingscolle...

[@FjBaptista]

Bach was definitely listening to God when he wrote this wonderful work.

[@pedroluzdivina2355]

Whenever I find Bach in KZbin, the sun shines in mi soul and all the troubles disappear...

[@michaelfrancisdeacon7607]

One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.Truly divine. My mother played it every Easter and every time I hear it I think of her.

[@searchingforbutterflies]

Wow… I have no words… that's why King's is my favourite choir...

[@patriciagraham2287]

To the glory of God indeed - pure beauty.

[@juneeverett9628]

I love it. Bach is my favourite composer and the standard of the performance is excellent. Thankyou all.

[@slim531]

i didn't know such beauty existed until i heard this piece

[@sakkijarvenpolkka2090]

This is my absolute favourite performance! I am really enjoying the tempo and pacing, really beautiful!

[@attilakovacs5803]

Heavenly beauty and perfection! I have even forgotten my painful knee. Thank you!

[@xtrahandz]

And me my sciatica

[@Johanna040713]

The moment when the choir begins to sing, at 1:12, is breathtakingly beautiful.

[@dst4307]

Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe und Frieden den Menschen auf Erden

[@jacquesverbrugghe3822]

Superbe interprétation de ce magnifique choeur d'ouverture de cette passion de St Matthieu de BACH.

[@francescacolombo6799]

Musica che eleva lo spirito. Interpretazione molto alta, con tanta energia del coro delle voci bianche

[@natalyd9674]

Thank you, Jesus.

[@kasGjoglekar]

I have never heard a music so beautiful !

[@gregdodd6505]

Outstanding!! What else is there to say.

[@samamuse1353]

Pure beauty 💫👑👏

[@EduardoHernandez-cc9qn]

Sublime. Seasons greetings from Guatemala centralamerica.

[@artfuldodger4850]

The question of an all male choir versus mixed choirs is really down to personal taste. Having watched this part and read the comments, there is a complete performance made by Südtirol of the St Matthew passion available by the Tölzer Knabenchor, with Christian Fliegner conducting. Their Sopranos and Alto take all the solos with the choir’s own Tenors and Basses prominent. It comes from 2017. 2 and a half hours of an excellent performance.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

I guess that's how Bach got a lot of children to be featured in this epic piece of music.

[@davidhynd4435]

Such perfection. Just beautiful.

[@ameliamartzz5202]

Me encuentro totalmente obsesionada con esta obra 🎼♥️

[@rachell4417]

Lovely way to spend an evening

[@rbj5767]

❣️⚡️🎼🎶🎶🎶🎶✨️

[@sapphire270]

I like it so much ❤️

[@kmmbs1]

Sublime..

[@ameliamartzz5202]

Realmente bello y angelical, me encanta ♥️ gracias a dios por darnos a Bach 🎼

[@pedroluzdivina2355]

Más bien deberías decir "gracias a Bach por darnos a dios". Y a partir de ahí que cada quien crea en el dios que más le apetezca. Si dios realmente existiera quedaría a la altura del betún al escuchar este soberbio fragmento de la más grande de las obras universales del genio de Eisenach. No mezclemos la Música de Bach con dios porque la Música de Bach trasciende más allá de lo terrenal, lo humano y lo divino, y para entenderla deberíamos nacer veinte veces... Bach era creyente, sí, pero su Música participa de un componente estético, intelectual y mágico que ni el mismo dios, en caso de que exista, puede alcanzar a comprender. Olvídate: el único dios verdadero es Bach. Salud.

[@veradabronyi6147]

Wunderschön!

[@LaudeturIesusChristus]

Me gusta éste tempo. Es un poco más acelerado que le da la cadencia exacta

[@wmjdejong51]

Excellent 🎼

[@Bildungsrebell]

This is beyond mankind. The complexity of this is so high a well educated musician needs months, maybe years, just for the craft… Without the genius. Summed up Bachs work with about 1000 works he must have lived at least 1000 years. The only way to get this all done is genius intuition. He didn’t have the time to somehow construct, correct, repeat, throw away… In some years He had to deliver a cantata per week…

[@noway742]

I prefer this version.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJ_OhHmBf5mleZIfeature=shared

[@donatio1]

Beautiful!!!!

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Come Ye Daughters Help me Lament is what it's called in English. Looks like they're using the Barenreiter edition because it's essentially a cleaned up version of the original manuscript.

[@kan-hsuehchiang3819]

I like AAM so much but this performance is not sophisticated enough to be called "great".

[@maraionescu3721]

One of the best... ♥️

[@gwalaus]

Can barely hear the ripieno sopranos' chorale melody. This is the core, the cantus firmus if you like of the whole thing.

[@lakkfatt2321]

Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder.

[@missasinenomine]

O Lamm Gottes unschuldig.

[@litoboy5]

lovely !!!

[@vernonwhite4660]

Was fortunate to go to the Xmas service there in 1972

[@JeanRuiz-z3o]

Excelente 😍😎

[@drtmuir]

I spy Matthew Rose sitting over on the left...

[@prokastinatore]

This is not a waltz or a piece to dance! Pls stop this horrible tradition of abusing the score of Bach while ignoring our high developed music instruments!

[@kmmbs1]

Out of this world …

[@alyswilliams9571]

Stupendous.

[@anagil5740]

❤😂

[@augustbakenhus3288]

Great!

[@gotham61]

Stephen Cleobury lives! This must have been one of the last, if not the last, recordings he made. Seems appropriate.

[@jerrymahlangu9397]

¹¹¹

[@MarekMichalakMusic]

Sir Stephen's penultimate recording, to the best of my knowledge. Only their Bruckner CD was recorded after this. I was going to go but had a date conflict which made it impossible. If only I had known it would have been the final time we would have seen him conduct a major Bach work, I would have prioritised attending this instead. At least we have this wonderful recording.

[@gotham61]

@@MarekMichalakMusic The Liner notes for the Bruckner say it was recorded in March and June of 2020, which is impossible unless Cleobury's ghost was wielding the baton. I was lucky enough to see his last North American concert with the choir in April 2019.

[@MarekMichalakMusic]

@@gotham61 No, that is most definitely a Freudian typo. It was March and June 2019 when they recorded it. Glad you had that opportunity. Admittedly, I have never heard King's sing outside of their home location. I did attend the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve 2018, which was very very special to me for many reasons and am certainly glad to have done so.

[@margaret5113]

Bravissimo!

[@BarcelonaAustinA35]

I think the girls in the ripieno choir was spot on

[@TrollMalefico1984]

The high definition video is so good I can see the dandruff on the conductor's back.

[@Scots-IrishGuy]

Could someone translate the German text, please? Many thanks!

[@ruthchenp]

1. Chorus I & II and Chorale (Daughters of Zion and Faithful Souls) Come, daughters, help me lament, behold! - Whom? - the Bridegroom! Behold him! - how? - As a Lamb. Behold! - what? - behold the patience, look! - where? - at our guilt. See him, out of love and graciousness bear the wood for the Cross Himself. O innocent Lamb of God, slaughtered on the trunk of the Cross, patient at all times, however you were scorned. you have borne all sins, otherwise we would have to despair. Have mercy on us, o Jesus.

[@Scots-IrishGuy]

Thanks a million! What a masterful weaving of text and music. And King College Choir has such a a gentle and ethereal quality it makes those words come alive.

[@davyroger3773]

For some reason i like that i can't understand Bach's choruses in german or latin, i can focus more on the voice as an instrument rather than a message medium, probably why i prefer Bach to Handel.

[@Ryuuuuuk]

I'm German and most of the time can't make out the text just from listening either. Just in the recitative parts where it's a single voice.

[@ergomedia6115]

Listen this with headphones on, they have done a great job on mixing and mastering this piece.

[@simonsimorangkir2440]

Why children voice mix to mature male_female voice. Is it really Bach notation or contemporary interpretasion ?.❤

[@iainjones5002]

I recall back in the late 1960's, our Church Choir were invited to King's College to hear them sing at one of their services. Then, as of now, I marvel at their sheer quality, performance and ease with often complex pieces. They were ahead of their time then, and remain so.

[@helenmalinowski4482]

England/Britannia - please keep up the marvellous tradition of choirs and music, let alone performing in glorious churches. I’m trapped on the other side of the world at the moment, but have access to all I need.

[@chrislambert9435]

My Son is in Norwich Cathedral Choir, He will be performing in Matthew Passion this coming Easter

[@ชัยยุทธสิงห์โต-ฅ4ฌ]

สิ่งของดีทุกชิ้นปลอดภัยแบบไรขีดจำกัดลาพังตลอดเวลา

[@dingus_doofus]

Not quite Harnoncourt and Tölzer level, but very high indeed! I don't know if it's the girl voices' different vocal characteristic or if it's the acoustics or the audio engineering, but the sopranos reach out too sharply at times, which creates a disbalance.

[@johnyolland8125]

Sorry to disagree with everyone but this is a laboured and not at all fluid rendition of a masterpiece in my opinion with little sense of the natural baroque pulse, in my humble opinion

[@ernesthill4017]

I first heard this magical work in the soundtrack of "THX 1138" (1971) I've loved it ever since

[@ชัยยุทธสิงห์โต-ฅ4ฌ]

ทุกสิ่งเลิกแก่ชราสุดๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆแบบไรขีดจำกัดตลอดเวลา

[@Rosco_Trap]

Does this have anything to do with any religion?

[@benjosephr.cuyacot5963]

Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe!

[@baudy1627]

This is godlike ! 🙏❤️

[@DavidHassell2004]

One minor quibble for which I know I will get jumped on. The beauty of Kings has always been the purity of sound from all boys voices. I think you can just hear the difference in adding girls voices. Does it spoil the performance, probably not but you can tell. Listen to his earlier recording.

[@JohnWilliams-dx6dr]

I agree completely

[@jdbr4rc]

The girls are not in the choir, they are in the ripieno choir which sings the chorale at various points in this first Chorus in the Matthew Passion. They are not part of the Choir. As far as a I know the ripieno choir is the King’s College School Choir and the girls are part of that. The school choir is wearing their purple uniform. The composition of King’s College Choir has not changed. If I remember from my childhood a long time ago in Belfast, the ripieno choir only sings in this chorus and somewhere else. When I was a choirboy in Belfast the Ulster Singers asked two sets of choirboys to make up the ripieno choir. We sang from the gallery.

[@JohnWilliams-dx6dr]

Bentley Robinson you are correct But the girl voices still aren’t as pure as the boys

[@jberrow2957]

@@JohnWilliams-dx6dr the girls’ voices are less ‘steely’ and therefore don’t have the slightly sharp tone of their male counterparts. An excellent example of this is Howells’s ‘A maid Peerless’ , written for a female choir. When sung by boys , it takes on a totally different character, the discords stand out far more, as they are not offset by the warmer tones of the female voice. Both performances-Dublin (women) and St Paul’s (boys) are achingly beautiful.

[@김민수-n6b5z]

Can this appeared in full video?

[@mckavitt13]

It does appear on dvd, I believe.

[@m-hayek1985]

Why do they use girls? Is there a particular musical reason for utilizing female voices rather than sticking to treble voices only? Honest question.

[@MarekMichalakMusic]

Just their choice for second choir, I would guess really. This movement is for double choir, so, unless I am mistaken, you have the Choir of King's College in black suits and robes, and the ripieno choir being the Choir of King's College School in their purple jackets. I'd assume that the aim was to give the school choir a role in this musical highlight of the Easter season, rather than bringing in an "outside" choir for the ripieno parts.

[@kan-hsuehchiang3819]

1:27 , Tom Riddle singing Bach!

[@dst4307]

Matthäus passion, toll leider etwas zu schnell. 1a

[@eiger13026]

Is this available to buy on DVD?

[@prettyme3150]

I just got an email from the Kings newsletter that it is available now. You can check on their website to get more info.

[@yuehchopin]

danke

[@pennymarland6365]

‘7

[@BADRUBULDURA]

🙂🙂🙂

[@aberjaabernein2918]

Bißchen zu schnell

[@sofalvarez]

Does anyone knows where can I watch the full performance?

[@JoeSzilagy]

There are quite a few of the full performance here on KZbin, but by other orchestras and choirs. Just look for St. Mathew's Passion and the ones listed at over an hour in length.

[@flamespiter9198]

Quite enjoyable.

[@orasaltaee3572]

👋😁⁦❤️⁩🌷

[@angelachapewa5942]

Great singing indeed!

[@александркрасновНОДМосква]

а женщин нету? в хоре...

[@Zurvanox]

Its a boys choir

[@borneandayak6725]

Catholic Civilization

[@mckavitt13]

Protestant, in point of fact.

[@Starn3rd]

Anyone else imagine fighting a Bloodborne boss while listening to this? Absolutely haunting!

[@sofalvarez]

Jesus Christ...

[@fernnevjinsky8399]

[@juathimlim4236]

Beautiful!!!

[@theharry801]

Im no vocal expert, but at this age i doubt there is any difference between female and male voices, so i don't see the stigma towards girls singing in choirs. If anyone can provide evidence of a difference please link it! I'm genuinely curious but from my perspective all it seems like people are clinging to superficial traditions

[@baroque4days]

The girls don't seem to be projecting the hymn here quite as well as boys do when paired with adult female sopranos and altos. There is something very different about the boy voice so, they're often best used in contrast with adult females. Seems to be one of the few things that can lead over them when needed.

[@mckavitt13]

When young, boy sopranos sound different to girl sopranos AND they project like wild fire. It matters in Bach, tho' I'm for mixed choirs too.

[@baroque4days]

@@mckavitt13 Exactly. If I ever get skilled enough, I would like to compose a 6 part piece for bass, tenor, alto, soprano, girl soprano and boy soprano to see what kind of textures I can create by blending different voices in a fugue or something like that. I currently find myself unable to come up with simple subjects for keyboard works hence my channel only having one work. Once I get an idea, I'm fine but getting one can take me months. I'm definitely out of practice.

[@mckavitt13]

@@baroque4days Sounds ambitious & wonderful. Would love to hear your piece!

[@baroque4days]

@@mckavitt13 Just a pipe dream at the moment. I've been writing music for the best part of 9 years now but Baroque only 1 and a bit but, lockdown basically stopped me from doing anything (just felt too bad to write anything) so I guess it's more like a year and only really a few months with knowledge of how I'm supposed to approach counterpoint so, it might be a while before anything good happens. Began writing another orchestral suite today. I will be posting all of this stuff to my KZbin channel but, it will take some time before I become fast at writing.

[@ericasluijters4618]

prachtig!

[@prokastinatore]

"Kommt Ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" is performed way too fast and this kills the sadness and melancholy of it's message and character. If you don't have any idea or inspiration of how it should sound, pls listen to Karl Richter ("Münchener Bach-Chor) 1971. It was Leonard Bernstein who called Richter a genius. This Celobury-version is horrible. I'm sorry!

[@angelt454]

Too fast!

[@angelt454]

@Paolo Caldini indeed I will

[@geiryvindeskeland7208]

Angel, «too fast». If you are talking about your own taste, ok. But if we are talking about this tempo in a historical context, the pace is not too fast. Back then, they counted four beats per measure - heart beats. So this version is not too fast, but Richter and Klemperer are too slow - Richter 35 and Klemperer 32 heart beats per minute.(Richter 1971 version)

[@angelachapewa5942]

Great singing indeed!

[@vlkp]

Girls in the choir indubitably change its sound. The Glory hath departed.

[@brugf3801]

Indeed

[@Yorksbass]

There aren't any. That was the ripieno choir just for this piece. The choir hasn't changed.

[@vlkp]

That's a ripieno ~choir~. It sounds different from an all-boys choir. We know where this slippery slope leads.

[@GreenWyvern]

Nonsense. The Choir of King's College has sung with girls' choirs occasionally for many years, even decades. Please look up what a ripieno choir is, and what its purpose is in this piece.

[@edwardswilliamsj]

De a poco está entrando el poder feministas en el coro. Je.