Matthaus-Passion : S.Kuijken / La Petite Bande, C.Genz, Van Der Crabben, Samann (3SACD)

J.S. Bach: St Matthew Passion, BWV244

Gerlinde Samann: soprano I
Marie Kuijken: soprano II
Petra Noskaiova: alto I
Patrizia Hardt: alto II
Christoph Genz: tenor I & Evangelist
Bernhard Hunziker: tenor II
Jan Van der Crabben: bass I & Jesus
Marcus Niedermeyr: bass II
Emilie De Voght: soprano in ripieno Ancillae I II, Uxor Pilati
Olivier Berten: Petrus, Pilatus, Pontifex II
Nicolas Achten: Judas, Pontifex (Caiphas), Pontifex I

La Petite Bande / Sigiswald Kuijken, conductor

Recorded 2008
SACD Hybrid
CD STEREO/ SACD STEREO/ SACD SURROUND

Magnificent and transparent, a recording of the famous masterpiece by J.S. Bach by La Petite Bande and Sigiswald Kuijken. The ensemble has a worldwide reputation of aiming for the most authentic sound possible. Again Kuijken and his group of musicians and vocalists have achieved this the most sublime way!

Sigiswald Kuijken knows the St. Matthew Passion through and through. With La Petite Bande he gave performances of the work all over the world. Twenty years ago La Petite Bande (at that time with conductor Gustav Leonhardt and Kuijken as concertmaster) made their first recording of the Passion. It was a recording with soloists, a chamberchoir and an orchestral composition which was adjusted to that. Since then Kuijken's vision on this masterpiece has changed very much. Ground-breaking musicological work of the last decades has brought him to a serious thin-out of his ensemble without the use of a conductor. There is not a real choir anymore, because the soloists perform also the choirparts. The boyschoir that is usually used in most performances of this Passion is replaced here by a single soprano voice!

Additionally, by using authentic instruments and the original way of playing them, both in interpretation and sound quality, La Petite Bande strives to revive baroque music as faithfully as possible without lapsing into rigid academics.
La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken ( Challenge Classics )