German bass-baritone
Theo Adam celebrated his 80th birthday on August 1, 2006. In connection with this milestone, Berlin Classics, the heir to the East German labels that recorded
Adam in his prime, has issued a couple of collections devoted to his art in its BC Reference series. Johann Sebastian Bach: Geistliche Arien consists of "bleeding chunks" taken from complete recordings of various cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion and the Christmas Oratorio. Not all of the selections are arias, as there are some duets with
Peter Schreier,
Agnes Giebel,
Arleen Augér, and
Elisabeth Grümmer, although in most cases their parts are minimal compared to
Adam's. His voice is always big, generous, and robust, his sense of pitch well placed and tone well rounded and plummy.
Adam, at least in Bach movements set at moderate tempos, isn't always right on the rhythm and tends to drag certain notes, despite that the even-keel, semi-period conscious ensembles that provide the backing continue on without him. In recitatives,
Adam is excellent, with an instinctive sense of the forward musical flow as it relates to the text, bearing out
Adam's own dictum that "singing Bach is anything but singing in an instrumental style, [...] objectively, neutrally or without personal involvement." Nonetheless, an entire disc of recitatives wouldn't have made for a very interesting collection, and the richness and authority of
Adam's singing easily makes up for any irregularities owing to his personal manner of interpretation.
Although these recordings date from a wide range -- 1960 to 1983 -- Berlin Classics has done an excellent job of making these various sources blend into something that easily coheres into an album. Not everyone will be excited to hear Bach's bass arias taken out of context this way, but as a portrait of an artist who dedicated much of his life and career to studying and interpreting J.S. Bach's vocal music, Johann Sebastian Bach: Geistliche Arien is quite satisfying.