Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: James Gilchrist, Matthew Rose, Ashley Riches, Elizabeth Watts, Sarah Connolly, Andrew Kennedy, Christopher Purves, Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: AAM Records
Catalogue: AAM002
Release: 2014
Size: 1.91 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
St. John Passion, BWV 245
CD 01
Part I
01. Chorale: Herr, unser Herrscher (Chorus)
02. Recitative: Jesus ging mit seinen Jungern (Evangelist, Jesus)
03. Chorale: Jesum von Nazareth (Chorus)
04. Recitative: Jesus spricht zu ihnen (Evangelist, Jesus)
05. Chorale: Jesum von Nazareth! (Chorus)
06. Recitative: Jesus antwortete (Evangelist, Jesus)
07. Chorale: O grosse Lieb (Chorus)
08. Recitative: Auf dass das Wort erfullet wurde (Evangelist, Jesus)
09. Chorale: Dein Will gescheh, Herr Gott, zugleich (Chorus)
10. Recitative: Die Schar aber und der Oberhauptmann (Evangelist)
11. Aria: Von den Strikken meiner Sunden (Alto)
12. Recitative: Simon Petrus aber folgete Jesu nach (Evangelist)
13. Aria: Ich folge dir gleichfalls (Soprano)
14. Recitative: Derselbige Junger war dem Hohepriester bekannt (Evangelist, Ancilla, Petrus, Jesus, Servus)
15. Chorale: Wer hat dich so geschlagen (Chorus)
16. Recitative: Und Hannas sandte ihn gebunden (Evangelist)
17. Chorale: Bist du nicht seiner Junger einer (Chorus)
18. Recitative: Er leugnete und sprach (Evangelist, Petrus, Servus)
19. Aria: Ach, mein Sinn (Tenor)
20. Chorale: Petrus, der nicht denkt zuruck (Chorus)
CD 02
Part II
01. Chorale: Christus, der uns selig macht (Chorus)
02. Recitative: Da fuhreten sie Jesum (Evangelist, Pilatus)
03. Chorale: Ware dieser nicht ein Ubeltater (Chorus)
04. Recitative: Pilatus sprach zu ihnen (Evangelist, Pilatus)
05. Chorale: Wir durfen niemand toten (Chorus)
06. Recitative: Auf dass erfullet wurde das Wort Jesu (Evangelist, Pilatus, Jesus)
07. Chorale: Ach grosser Konig (Chorus)
08. Recitative: Da sprach Pilatus zu ihm (Evangelist, Pilatus, Jesus)
09. Chorale: Nicht diesen, diesen nicht (Chorus)
10. Recitative: Barrabas aber war ein Morder (Evangelist)
11. Arioso: Betrachte, meine Seel (Bass)
12. Aria: Erwage, wie sein blutgefarbter Rucken (Tenor)
13. Recitative: Und die kriegsknechte flochten eine Krone (Evangelista)
14. Chorale: Sei gegrusset, lieber Judenkonig (Chorus)
15. Recitative: Und gaben ihm Backenstreiche (Evangelist, Pilatus)
16. Chorale: Kreuzige, kreuzige (Chorus)
17. Pilatus sprach zu ihnen (Evangelista, Pilatus)
18. Chorale: Wir haben ein Gesetz (Chorus)
19. Recitative: Da Pilatus das Wort horete (Evangelist, Pilatus, Jesus)
20. Chorale: Durch dein Gefangnis, Gottes Sohn (Chorus)
21. Recitative: Die Juden aber schrieen und sprachen (Evangelist)
22. Chorale: Lassest du diesen los (Chorus)
23. Recitative: Da Pilatus das Wort horete (Evangelist, Pilatus)
24. Chorale: Weg, weg mit dem (Chorus)
25. Recitative: Spricht Pilatus zu ihnen (Evangelist, Pilatus)
26. Chorale: Wir haben keinen Konig (Chorus)
27. Recitative: Da uberantwortete er ihn (Evangelist)
28. Aria: Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen (Bass, Chorus)
29. Recitative: Allda kreuzigten sie ihn (Evangelist)
30. Chorale: Schreibe nicht: der Juden konig (Chorus)
31. Recitative: Pilatus antwortet (Evangelist, Pilatus)
32. Chorale: In meines Herzens Grunde (Chorus)
33. Recitative: Die Kriegsknechte aber (Evangelist)
34. Chorale: Lasset uns den nicht zerteilen (Chorus)
35. Recitative: Auf dass erfullet werde die Schrift (Evangelist, Jesus)
36. Chorale: Er nahm alles wohl in acht (Chorus)
37. Recitative: Und von Stund annahm sie der Junger zu sich (Evangelist)
38. Aria: Es ist vollbracht (Alto)
39. Recitative: Und neigte das Haupt und verschied (Evangelist)
40. Aria: Mein teurer Heiland, lass dich fragen (Bass, Chorus)
41. Recitative: Und siehe da, der Vorhang (Evangelist)
42. Arioso: Mein Herz, indem die ganze Welt (Tenor)
43. Aria: Zerfliesse, mein Herze (Soprano)
44. Recitative: Die Juden aber (Evangelist)
45. Chorale: O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn (Chorus)
46. Recitative: Darnach bat Pilatum (Evangelist)
47. Chorale: Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine (Chorus)
48. Chorale: Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein (Chorus)
JS Bach’s St John Passion is an intensely personal experience, bringing to life the humanity of the passion story. Combining raw viscerality with moments of exquisite intimacy, it was written soon after Bach’s arrival as Kantor at Leipzig’s Thomasschule. Keen to impress a new congregation, Bach produced a setting of the age-old passion story which overshadowed almost every piece of liturgical music the world had previously known. Our recording aims to capture the authenticity and vivacity of the very first Good Friday performance at Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche.
Over the past 40 years the AAM has made over 300 recordings of baroque and classical music, winning Brit and Grammy Awards along the way. This is our first-ever recording of the St John Passion. With a superlative cast including James Gilchrist, Sarah Connolly, Andrew Kennedy, Elizabeth Watts, Christopher Purves and Matthew Rose, and directed by Richard Egarr, this is a landmark project.
This historically oriented recording of the lesser-known of Bach’s Passion settings sticks close to the middle of the road in its moderate-sized choir (16 voices) and orchestra, and in its rather undramatic approach to a work that in its own time was a controversially operatic approach to the Christian Bible. The main unusual selling point is the use of a reconstructed score of a hypothetical original 1724 version of the work. Other recordings offering a 1724 version mostly use later scores that remove the alterations Bach made in a major revision of 1725. The differences between what’s done here and those later versions are not large, but the use of violas d’amore in several arias is distinctive; Bach later wrote those out of the score because they were obsolete. Among the soloists James Gilchrist as the Evangelist is the standout; he never loses the narrative thread in the work’s considerable proportion of recitative. The Academy of Ancient Music under keyboardist/conductor Richard Egarr is precise, sweet, and smoothed down: listeners who like a low-key approach will find a competent one here. The medium-sized St. Jude-on-the-Hill church in London is appropriate in its dimensions and acoustically sympathetic in bringing out the detail Egarr finds in the work. Recommended, although there are plenty of other choices with sharper profiles.