Bach: St. John Passion

The music of Bach's St. John Passion is still vibrant, fresh, and a baroque delight even after nearly three hundred years. What makes this published live recording of the concert performance on March 7, 2015, in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz particularly special are the unspoiled voices of the equally young and outstanding vocal soloists, the repeatedly acclaimed "crystal-clear sound" and "immense plasticity" of the Bavarian Radio Choir under the direction of Peter Dijkstra, and, of course, the internationally renowned "Originalklang" ensemble Concerto Köln. Immediately after his appointment as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, Bach wrote the St. John Passion for the Passiontide of 1724, one of presumably five Passions he is believed to have composed—of which only two have survived. Bach revised the work three more times after this first performance in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, with the final version from 1749, on which this recording is based, returning once again to the original version.