Underrated Classical Musicians: Georg Christoph Biller

 

On this Good Friday, let's remember the Leipzig Thomaskantor Georg Christoph Biller, who died of an unspecified (so far as I know) neurodegenerative disease at the beginning of this year after a long and distinguished career in service of Bach, music, St. Thomas's church, and his students. This comes from 2013, by 2015 he was forced to resign and from 2019 had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, though the disease seemed to spare his mental faculties.

There is another H-moll Messe on youtube from them in 2000. Orchestrally, the other is more distinguished - in 2000, Biller had the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and there is nothing any period ensemble can do to match that level of dedication and uniqueness. But chorally, though, this is more distinguished than nearly any performance ever set down. The vocal clarity, precision, diction, and intonation of every line is just about absolute. One could doubtless ask for more phrasing and contrast, but that is not perhaps the proper approach with such young musicians who can express with naturalness that no adult can ever recapture. So with near-ideal tempi (for me at least), Biller creates an experience that balances the spiritual, human, and formal, in a way puts us closer to the spirit of Bach than nearly any other conductor has.

The sound of the Thomanerchor is a thing of wonder, and one realizes instantly, this is the timbre for which Bach wrote his endless stream of polyphonic melismas - it is meant for young people with no limitations in their stamina, intonation, or air supply. The secure vocal technique of young people is inherent in their physiognamy, and no amount of professional technique can replace this artless naturalness.

So there is something about the Thomanerchor that simply sounds right - whether it's in period circumstances like now or back in the days of Ramin or Mauersberger. I have no idea if this is anything like the sound Bach meant, but there is something that fits Bach's music as uniquely as any amount of period instruments or techniques.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCWMUt0KmY4