In one respect, the Seven Last Words in oratorio form has the edge over the other versions. It includes an extra number, a disquieting interlude in A minor, between the Fourth and Fifth Words. Here Haydn uses the standard 18th-century wind octet plus a single flute, two trombones and, for the first time ever, a double bassoon. In this recording, the instrument is audible but is not exactly ‘a presence’ as it is with Harnoncourt.
The depth of the bass-line throughout Harnoncourt’s reading reflects his interpretation of the music. It is a weighty expression of grief. Spering sees it in sparer terms, a proclamation about raw drama, and he sets the scene at the beginning with an Introduzione that isn’t Maestoso ed adagio as marked. Instead, it’s incisively animated, redolent of the hysterical spectacle that Christ’s crucifixion was for the public of the day. Spering is generally no laggard in this succession of slow movements but he overplays his hand in Sonata 5 (‘I thirst’). True, the time-signature is alla breve (a warning against tardiness), but it’s still no justification for rushing through this movement, thus denigrating the depiction of agony and exhaustion. Sonata 4 (‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’) is shrewdly judged, much more broadly paced than the rest and graphic in its portrayal of abandonment. The soloists are variable (as is the sound), but Spering commands a lot of consideration most of the time. Pity he goes off the rails in Sonata 5.'