J.S. Bach St. Matthew Passion BWV 244

Product Description To follow the Christmas Oratorio, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and its artistic director Peter Dijkstra have issued a live recording on CD and DVD of a further major work by Johann Sebastian Bach: the St. Matthew Passion. Their instrumental partner is the renowned period instrument group Concerto Köln, who can already be heard together with the BR choir on several BR-KLASSIK CDs. The Evangelist's part is sung by the young tenor Julian Prégardien, who has made an international name for himself as an expert on interpreting Bach's Evangelist roles. The other soloists are Karina Gauvin, Gerhild Romberger, Maximilian Schmitt, Michael Nagy and Karl-Magnus Fredriksson. The concert was staged with atmospheric lighting effects, and the two choirs of solo singers of the St. Matthew Passion feature the famously clear, soaring sound of the Regensburger Domspatzen. St. Thomas's Church in Leipzig's most famous cantor composed the St. Matthew Passion in 1727 for the Good Friday service. It gives us a many-faceted and deeply moving account of the Passion according to St. Matthew. Bach's highly emotional musical language, combined with the magnificent interplay of chorales, arias and choruses on different narrative levels, makes this work quite unique. Review "Musically, this recording is consistently a triumph...a terrific performance for anyone wishing to find a convincing interpretation of one of Bach's greatest compositions." --Nathan Windt, Choral Journal, May 2015