In Conversation with John Ostendorf, Recording Producer

Meet the Man Behind the Earphones

John Ostendorf

VoxAmaDeus’ master recording producer, in conversation with Richard A. Shapp

Vox recording session

At every VoxAmaDeus concert our audience is offered the opportunity to purchase a wide array of compact disc recordings from Vox’s extensive concert repertoire. In this interview we invite you to meet the man you never see, but whose golden ears are essential to the success of every recording you can purchase to take home and enjoy at your leisure. Meet John Ostendorf!

RAS: John, how and when did you begin your association with Valentin Radu and VoxAmaDeus?

JO: My nearly 20-year association with Valentin Radu and VoxAmaDeus coincided with the winding-up of my active singing career and my move to a full-time concentration on record producing. The two endeavors had overlapped for some time—more on that later. I'd just produced a Bach solo album for soprano Julianne Baird, a longtime vocal colleague and friend in Philadelphia. She introduced me to Valentin Radu; we hit it off instantly and planned a period-instrument Messiah recording for the VOX label—a happy coincidence. That went really well, and two decades and about thirty recordings (maybe more?) later, we're still at it.

Philadelphia Boys Choir joins the Ama Deus Ensemble

Valentin Radu

Welcomes the

Philadelphia Boys Choir

performing with the

Ama Deus Ensemble

J.S. Bach’s Saint John Passion

at the Kimmel Center on March 29 at 8:00 PM

Buy tickets here!

Adding to the beauty of Bach’s music—enjoy the exquisite, angelic voices of the Philadelphia Boys Choir when it joins musical forces with the Ama Deus Ensemble in the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center on Friday, March 29 performing the Saint John Passion in English.

Since 1968, the Philadelphia Boys Choir has provided the finest musical education and performing experience for ensembles of its genre in the Greater Philadelphia area. Though our style has been emulated by many, none can top the beautiful and unique sound our boys create. Every week in rehearsal, boys interact and connect with other boys from all over the Tri-State region, allowing them to learn from one another through friendships they might not otherwise find. The opportunities for travel and concerts around the world help our Choir members build character in a safe and constructive environment, while carrying out the esteemed tradition of being part of America’s Ambassadors of Song.

March 2013 - J.S. Bach's St. John Passion

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The St. John Passion is a dramatic representation of the Passion story with extravagance and an expressive immediacy. It is the oldest of Bach's settings of the Passion. Written in 1724, it is fast-paced and emotionally moving. Bach innovatively and freely explores harmony and word-painting in this work, and delivers a exuberance not found in many other Baroque works.

VoxAmaDeus welcomes the Philadelphia Boys Choir (Jeffrey Smith, Director) to this performance featuring an all-Baroque instrument orchestra.

 A Conversation with Tenor Dana Wilson

 ...In conversation with Richard A. Shapp...

 
Tenor Dana Wilson prepares To sing the Evangelist’s Role in Bach’s monumental Saint John Passion on Good Friday, March 29th at 8 PM

As you will discover, Dana Wilson has been a member of the VoxAmaDeus vocal ensemble for nearly ten years. And although he has had his share of solo parts, this March 29 he will take on an extremely challenging leading role in the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Dana will be featured as the Evangelist (in other words, the Narrator) in J.S. Bach’s monumental Saint John Passion. This is one of the most demanding tenor parts in the concert repertoire and Dana’s musical journey to Baroque music expert began in an unexpected place!

RAS: So Dana, let’s begin at the beginning. How and when did you begin your association with Valentin Radu and VoxAmaDeus?

DW: It's amazing to think that it's closing in on a decade since I began my association with Valentin Radu and VoxAmaDeus!

(continued)

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Renaissance Candlemas

Valentin Radu conducts the Vox Renaissance Consort
Click here for tickets.

Under the musical direction of Valentin Radu, the lushly costumed professional vocalists and period-instrument troubadours of the Vox Renaissance Consort will perform Renaissance Candlemas, glorious music from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods celebrating this time of year when the harshness of winter slowly begins to give way to the glories of spring.

Maestro Radu explains: “Candlemas is one of the most ancient festivals of the Church. It is celebrated forty days after Christmas, generally on February 2. It is also called The Feast of the Presentation, since it commemorates the Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple in Jerusalem as well as the Ritual Purification of Mary as was prescribed by Mosaic Law. Of this Presentation, the Gospel of Luke relates that Simeon the Righteous blessed the Babe and then uttered the famous words of the Nunc dimittis (“Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word”). A popular feature of the Candlemas religious service was the blessing of beeswax candles and their procession through the church. I also find it interesting to note that many scholars believe that Candlemas had its roots in pre-Christian European winter celebrations observed in early February, and that from among these sprang a famous Pennsylvania Dutch tradition that is still observed every February 2!

“The music of the Renaissance and early Baroque periods that embodies the themes of Candlemas is gloriously beautiful and often serene. The Vox Renaissance Consort Candlemas programs will feature, among others, two Franco-Flemish works, Hodie Beata Virgo Maria by Jacob Arcadelt and Ave maris stella by Guillaume Dufay, as well as the well-known eight-voice Jubilate Deo by the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli and a setting of Psalm 121 by the German Heinrich Schütz.”

Renaissance Candlemas will be presented twice, in two locations: first, on Friday, February 8, at 8:00 PM at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin’s Lane and Willow Grove Avenue; and again on Sunday, February 10, at 6:00 PM at Daylesford Abbey, 220 South Valley Road in Paoli.

General Admission tickets are $10 for students, $20 for seniors, $25 for all others and go on sale at the door approximately 45 minutes prior to concert time.

For tickets call VoxAmaDeus at 610-688-2800 or click here.

The winning "Messiah": Vox Ama Deus

Radu's 'Hallelujah' was fast without seeming rushed.
    BY: Steve Cohen (Broad Street Review) - 01.04.2013

Who’s the fairest Messiah of them all?

Some singers and listeners prefer a weepy approach to the Messiah story— which, of course, includes a section about Jesus’s crucifixion. Yet if you believe in a proactive God who chose to have his son executed, for a purpose, then why feel sad? God’s will was done, and his act should be praised. 

I heard four Messiahs this holiday season. Three were respectably devout; only one was exciting. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony performances were conventionally reverent, with sizeable orchestras and choruses. The differences among these three were mainly a matter of which solo vocalists you preferred.
Vox Ama Deus, on the other hand, gave a distinctive performance that used smaller forces, early instruments and 18th-Century performing practices. This approach produced more effervescence and joy. 

Under its musical director, Valentin Radu, Vox Ama Deus seeks to recreate music in the style of its time, using performance practices that the composer intended. Consequently, the Vox Ama Deus version differed from its conve

Lower key
 
1. The orchestra numbered 30 musicians and the chorus contained 45 singers. In the Romantic era, those numbers were commonly doubled or tripled to achieve grandeur. (Actually, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s group is much reduced now from a few years ago.)
2. Vox Ama Deus played and sang in a lower key— the pitch that was used in Handel’s time: half-a-tone below what’s common now.
3. Tempi were faster and brisker. Later, when Messiah was performed in cavernous halls and in cathedrals, with reverberation, conductors slowed the tempi to enhance the clarity for the listeners.
Big trumpet, little trumpet trumpets
4. Vox Ama Deus used Baroque instruments. Its strings were gut, not steel, and its oboes lacked keys. Their sound was sweeter and mellower. The ensemble included a theorbo—a long-necked, lute-like instrument— and two trumpets, one of them longer than today’s, the other a short Bach-style trumpet, less than half the normal size and producing a brilliant high tone.
5. Vox Ama Deus used period vocal style, with ornamentation added by Radu and the singers. In Handel’s day vocalists were expected to embellish vocal works by improvising cadenzas near the end of each song.
6. Ama Deus performed a longer version of Messiah. Handel wrote three sections: The birth of Jesus, his death, then his Resurrection. (Messiah actually was premiered on Good Friday of 1742; only later did it become associated with Christmas.)
Missing sections 

The Philadelphia Orchestra and the other big orchestras omitted three sections in Part Two and four in Part Three. I especially missed the soprano aria, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” that should be heard just before the final chorus. 

We can forgive these large orchestras for their deviations from Messiah; after all, Handel often made revisions himself in order to accommodate different singers at various performances. But I can’t help wondering: Do the large organizations choose shorter versions for artistic reasons, or to reduce their overtime pay? 

Radu— drawing on his studies with Nicholas Harnoncourt, a pioneer conductor of period-style performances— took the “Hallelujah” chorus rapidly, even more so than Helmuth Rilling, who led the New York Philharmonic’s performance (and who owns good credentials in early music). Rilling’s “Hallelujah” took three minutes, 42 seconds, and Sir Neville Marriner took 3:47 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. (I wasn’t able to time the Philadelphia Orchestra.) 

By contrast, Radu’s “Hallelujah” lasted 3:16 without sounding rushed. Rather, it was sprightly— a joyful holler rather than a hymn. 

Lost in Verizon
 
With Goodwin conducting a reduced Philadelphia Orchestra, we heard leaner instrumental textures than in decades past. Karina Gauvin, soprano, and Diana Moore, mezzo, were excellent soloists. Tenor John Tessier was more problematic. His light lyric voice didn’t carry well in the large Verizon Hall, and he used old-fashioned formal English enunciations. A more conversational approach would make the drama more relevant. 

The Ama Deus soloists comprised a well-matched quartet, including Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano; Jody Kidwell, alto; Timothy Bentch, tenor; and Ed Bara, bass. All of them handled the trills and other technical tricks while communicating the text commendably.
Vox Ama Deus has issued a recording of Messiah that includes the world-famous Julianne Baird as soprano soloist. I recommend it highly.