Although little known today, Johann Mattheson considered him a major player in Protestant church music, and this particular piece was so popular that it continued to be performed in the region up through about 1800. Ironically enough, directors did not throw it over for the quintessential Passion work, Graun’s Der Tod Jesu, and instead even incorporated arias from it into Meder’s work to fill it out. It is clear that Riga did not have much in the way of musical forces, for the work requires only a pair of oboes (or recorders), a pair of violins, and a continuo to support the five-voice choir (SSATB). Indeed, so integrated are the parts, both instrumental and vocal, that this performance by the Kölner Akademie with only one on a part seems entirely appropriate. The oratorio itself follows the traditional Passion model of a series of active recitatives taken from the Gospel itself, usually narrated, interspersed by simple choruses and chorales, and the occasional didactic aria. But unlike, say, the Passions of Bach or Telemann, Meder inserts instrumental interludes, titled sinfonias, at places throughout to break up the action. This remnant of the older Monteverdian ritornello makes the work much more fluid. At only one point does he actually paraphrase a well-known Easter chorale, “O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid,” turning it into a combination ritornello-arie for soprano, which then devolves into a wonderful theme and variations once the tenor takes over the main tune, with a floating oboe countermelody. This makes the subsequent chorus a refrain of considerable delicacy, and then the whole thing is repeated for the next verse, this time with both oboes weaving in and out of the countermelody, before finally winding up with a homophonic chorus with a running bass/violin line. This section alone demonstrates Meder as a sensitive and inventive composer, a worthy forerunner of Bach.

The performance by the Kölner Akademie is brilliant. The players are in tune (and pitched very high at 465 Hz for the A, which corresponds with their temperament and the generally higher-pitched standards for the Baltic region, all of which tend to be above the normal 440 Hz), and their phrasing is extremely fine and nuanced. Indeed, conductor Michael Willens even varies his tempos enough to impart a certain energy to the Passion, something that makes it come alive. All of the singers know their craft well. The straight-tone singing is enlivened by just a touch of vibrato at the sustained lines, and they know both how to blend as the “chorus,” and how to emerge as solists. All in all, this is a must-have recording for those interested in the music of the Baltic region. It will complete your collection of Bach forerunners and will hopefully stimulate more works by Meder coming to light.