Johannes-Passion : Gardiner / English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Padmore, Muller-Brachmann, P.Harvey, B.Fink, etc (2003)(2CD)

Bach: St John Passion, BWV 245

CD1 - Part I
CD2 - Part II
(recorded: Kaiserdom, Konigslutter)

Mark Padmore - Evangelist
Hanno Muller-Brachmann - Jesus
Peter Harvey - Pilatus
Bernarda Fink, Joanne Lunn, Katherine Fuge
The Monteverdi Choir
The English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Recorded in Konigslutter in 2003, this two disc album features internationally acclaimed soloists, including Mark Padmore, Hanno Muller-Brachmann, Peter Harvey and Bernarda Fink. Packaged in the same hard back book style as our other releases, it contains a 76 pages booklet with original notes by John Eliot Gardiner with texts in German, English and French.

Considered to be an expressive and intimate oratorio, the St John Passion was conceived by Bach both as a work of art and an act of worship in itself. It has a subtle balance between narrative and contemplative, juxtaposing vivid re-enactment and dramatic scene-setting in the ariosos and arias, with stretches of exposition of its meaning in chorales.

The music is in turns evocative, stirring, exultant and profoundly moving. It forces the listener to contemplate the complexities of the Passion story. Regardless of one’s religious view, it captures the listener’s attention from beginning to end. ( Soli Deo Gloria )