‘Gewikt & gewogen’
Leeuwarder Courant, March 29, 2018
Event: J.S. Bach, Johannes Passion, by NHL Stendkoor and Nationaal Symfonisch Kamerorkest, led by Hans de Wilde.
With: Fabian Strotmann (evangelist), Robbert Muuse (Christ), Evelyn Ziegler (soprano), Carina Vinke (alto), Fabio Maciel (tenor), Bart van de Wetering (bass) and Johan Bijhold (organ). Viewed: 27-03-2018, Atlastheater Emmen.
Crowd: 150
Stars: 4/5
25 years ago, Harm Witteveen started a beautiful tradition. With students and employees of the Christelijke Hogeschool Nederland in Leeuwarden, the inspired conductor yearly perform a passion of Bach.
This tradition remained when the CHN fused with the Hogeschool Drenthe to Stenden Hogeschool in 2008 and also after the fusion with NHL at the start of this year. Hans de Wilde took over the baton of Witteveen in 2014. But this also has, as was apparent tuesday evening in Emmen, only strengthened this special tradition: the Johannes Passion of the NHL Stendenkoor stood as a house built on a rock.
Of course, with a choir of sixty amateur singers not everything is flawless. For example, in the opening choir ‘Herr, unser Herrscher’, the Stendenkoor was hardly coming up on top of the orchestra in the first strophes. There were some problems with balance and intelligibility afterwards as well, but there a lot of beauty to compensate. Wonderful chorales, very expressive and sharply sung folk choirs and movingly beautiful question-and-answer singing with the excelling bass Bert van de Wetering. He sang with his whole body, as if his life depended on it, musically doing full justice to the spirit of the passion story of Christ.
In any case it was a nice set of soloist that the Stendenkoor had attracted, with Robbert Muuse as a convincing Christ, the driving storytelling of evangelist Fabian Strotmann, the powerful stand in soprano Evelyn Ziegler and a wonderful ‘Es ist vollbracht’ by the alto Carina Vinke from Drenthe. Only the tenor Fabio Maciel fell out of the show a bit with his timid, insecure singing, at times making him hardly audible.
Job van Schaik