J S Bach - St John Passion
£24.65
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Label: Linn
Cat No: CKR419
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 19th January 2018
Contents
Works
Chorale Prelude BWV618 'O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig'Chorale Prelude BWV620 'Christus, der uns selig macht'
Chorale Prelude BWV621 'Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund'
Chorale Prelude BWV657 'Nun danket alle Gott'
St John Passion, BWV245
Praeludium in F sharp minor, BuxWV146
Ecce quomodo moritur
Artists
Joanne Lunn (soprano)Clare Wilkinson (alto)
Nicholas Mulroy (tenor)
Matthew Brook (baritone)
Robert Davies (baritone)
University of Glasgow Chapel Choir
Dunedin Consort
Conductor
John ButtWorks
Chorale Prelude BWV618 'O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig'Chorale Prelude BWV620 'Christus, der uns selig macht'
Chorale Prelude BWV621 'Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund'
Chorale Prelude BWV657 'Nun danket alle Gott'
St John Passion, BWV245
Praeludium in F sharp minor, BuxWV146
Ecce quomodo moritur
Artists
Joanne Lunn (soprano)Clare Wilkinson (alto)
Nicholas Mulroy (tenor)
Matthew Brook (baritone)
Robert Davies (baritone)
University of Glasgow Chapel Choir
Dunedin Consort
Conductor
John ButtAbout
Director John Butt has given listeners an interpretation that will provide a refreshing outlook on this masterpiece and will show the John Passion in a completely new light. The Consort recreate the context of a passion performance during Bach's time at Leipzig; the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir (directed by James Grossmith) and a congregational choir of amateur singers perform motets and chorales from an original Leipzig hymn book and John Butt takes centre stage to perform organ preludes on the Collins organ at Greyfriar's Kirk in Edinburgh, where the recording took place.
Since receiving a Gramophone Award in 2007, Dunedin Consort has continued to receive accolades: 'Esther' was voted one of the ‘Top 10 Classical Albums of 2012' by The Times, 2011 saw them included in Gramophone's ‘Twenty Greatest Choirs' list and its recording of Bach's Matthew Passion was named 'Building A Library: First Choice' by BBC Radio 3 - CD Review.
The multi-award-winning Dunedin Consort has won praise for the natural style of its soloists and renown for the virtuosity of its singers.
Also includes:
- Congregational Chorale: Da Jesus an dem Kreuze Stund
- Congregational Chorale: O Lamm Gottes unschuldig
- Responsory
- Collect
- Blessing
- Response to blessing: Gott sei uns gnadig und barmherzig
- Congregational Chorale: Nun danket alle Gott
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Congrgational Chorale - Da Jesus an dem Kreuze Stund
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2Organ Prelude; Coro - Herr, unser Herrscher...
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3Recitativo - Jesus ging mit seinen Jungern...
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4Choral - O grosse Lieb, o Lieb ohn' alle Masse
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5Aria - Ich folge dir gleichfalls...
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6Choral - Wer hat dich so geschlagen
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7Aria - Ach, mein Sinn
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8Choral - Christus, der uns selig macht
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9Aria - Erwage, wie sein blutgefarbter Rucken
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10Coro - Sei Gegrusset, Lieber Judenkonig!
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11Coro - Kreuzige, Kreuzige!
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12Aria - Es Ist Vollbracht!
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13Coro - Ruht Wohl, ihr Heiligen Gebeine
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14Congregational Chorale - Nun Danket Alle Gott
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15Aria - Zerfliesse, Mein Herze, In Fluten der Zahren
Europadisc Review
Yet in recent years it is the St John Passion that has enjoyed a boom in performances and recordings. The reasons are not hard to identify, for apart from its greater conciseness (it can last anything up to an hour less than its sister work), it arguably has a greater dramatic immediacy, its structure less doctrinaire and ‘finished’. For record collectors, there has never been a greater choice. Most recent recordings have been with period instruments at baroque pitch, with forces ranging from chamber choirs (larger and smaller) to the pared-down approach first pioneered by Joshua Rifkin and Andrew Parrott, and more recently championed by Philippe Pierlot (with the Ricercar Consort), Sigiswald Kuijken (La Petite Bande), and Konrad Junghänel (Cantus Cölln).
For this new recording, John Butt and the Dunedin Consort adopt the latter approach to particularly winning effect. And, even in such a crowded market, it really is very special indeed. The Dunedins’ 2007 recording of the St Matthew Passion emerged as the first choice on BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library. If anything, their St John is even finer.
The complex textual history of the St John Passion makes opting for a particular version by date problematic. Bach never really ‘finished’ this work which, between its first performance on Good Friday 1724 and its last under Bach’s direction in 1749, remained essentially ‘work in progress’. So John Butt, as he argues in his detailed and unpretentiously perceptive notes, has elected to perform the ‘standard’ modern version edited by Arthur Mendel as it might have been heard in Leipzig in 1739 (when Bach started copying out a fine copy of the full score), had permission for such a performance not effectively been withheld by the town council.
The real distinguishing feature of this new recording is that Butt places this ‘idealised’ version of the St John Passion in the context of a reconstructed Good Friday liturgy. Liturgical reconstructions of Bach on record are not entirely new, but this is the first time that one of Bach’s major choral works has been treated in such a fashion. The results are truly revelatory.
John Butt brings all his scholarly knowledge and musical expertise to bear on the project. It underpins his choice of vocal forces for the Passion setting itself: four ‘concertists’ who sing in all the choruses and chorales as well as their respective arias and recitatives, four ‘ripienists’ who double the concertists in the choruses and chorales, and two extra singers for the roles of Peter/Pilate and Servus. In the congregational chorales which frame the Passion’s two parts, the Dunedin singers are joined for the alternate harmonised verses by the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, augmented by a ‘congregational choir’ of accomplished amateur singers for the unison verses. Additionally, the Chapel Choir sings the sixteenth-century motet Ecce quomodo moritur immediately after the end of the Passion itself.
These different ‘layers’ of vocal contribution to the liturgy as a whole are well-documented in contemporary accounts, and add a rich musical perspective to the Passion music. So too do the solo organ chorale preludes from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, played by John Butt himself on the Peter Collins organ of Greyfriar’s Kirk in Edinburgh, which precede the congregational chorales.
Church services in Bach’s day were lengthy affairs, and Passion performances were no exception. In addition to all the music (ensemble and congregational) there were prayers and a substantial sermon. Some of these prayers are included here, expertly led in clearly delivered German by Rev. Marc Prowe. Linn have no doubt wisely chosen to omit the extra disc necessary to accommodate the sermon itself, but give the option of a free online download of the entire ‘sermon section’ (relatively short by eighteenth-century standards at a mere fifty minutes!) for those who want to take this experience to a further level.
None of this, however, no matter how fascinating, would count for much were the performances themselves not so utterly involving. As it is, the evident care taken over the liturgy is matched by the phenomenally accomplished levels of musicality in the performance as a whole. The moment when the listener is plunged from Buxtehude’s F sharp minor organ Praeludium into the turbulent dissonances of the St John Passion’s opening chorus is enormously powerful, more so than any other performance out there.
The soloists are led by the exceptionally accomplished Evangelist of Nicholas Mulroy, clear-toned and with clean diction, who unfolds the narrative in a consistently vivid way without ever making the mistake (made by many of his better-known counterparts!) of falling into over-affectation. Indeed, it is this combination of alert sensitivity with lack of pretension that characterises the performances throughout. There is no lack of dramatic flow or expressive depth. Clare Wilkinson’s account of ‘Es ist vollbracht!’ and Joanne Lunn’s ‘Zerfliesse, mein Herze’ are among the most sheerly heart-rending of any vintage. Matthew Brook’s strong yet sensitive Christus completes a winning solo quartet. The crowd choruses are brilliantly animated. At the same time the performance has a granite-like strength (against the over-polished marble of some others one could mention) that perfectly matches the toughness and resilience of Bach’s music.
It should be obvious by now that this recording is a real game changer. No one recording of Bach’s music could ever be described as definitive, but this comes as close to perfection as very few others. In this particular work, it now sweeps the board. With excellent recorded sound, full documentation and online supplementary material, all at an absurdly low price, there is really no excuse not to explore and immerse oneself in this new account. This will surely be one of the discs of the year, and every collection should have it!
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