JS Bach - St John Passion: The Cologne Recording | BIS BIS2551

JS Bach - St John Passion: The Cologne Recording

£26.55 £19.91

save £6.64 (25%)

special offer ending 01/04/2024

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: BIS

Cat No: BIS2551

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 2nd October 2020

Contents

Artists

James Gilchrist (tenor)
Hana Blazikova (soprano)
Damien Guillon (countertenor)
Zachary Wilder (tenor)
Christian Immler (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan

Conductor

Masaaki Suzuki

Works

Bach, Johann Sebastian

St John Passion, BWV245

Artists

James Gilchrist (tenor)
Hana Blazikova (soprano)
Damien Guillon (countertenor)
Zachary Wilder (tenor)
Christian Immler (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan

Conductor

Masaaki Suzuki

About

On 6 March 2020, Bach Collegium Japan began their long-awaited 30th anniversary tour of Europe with a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in Katowice, Poland. The same week Europe was becoming aware of the very stark reality of the threat posed by the new Corona virus, Covid-19. Consequently, as Masaaki Suzuki and his ensemble went on to perform in Dublin and then London, concert halls across Europe were closing down and the remaining tour dates were cancelled.

Before making their return to Japan, the BCJ agreed with the Kölner Philharmonie to go ahead with the concert that had been planned, in the form of a live streaming without an audience. This meant that the ensemble had time on their hands, and the idea was born to use it for making a recording. Having received permission to use the hall of the Philharmonie for the recording, Bach Collegium Japan and BIS jointly decided to go ahead with the idea, and during a few hectic hours arrangements were made for a recording team to come to Cologne. Over the next few days, Suzuki, the BCJ and a team of soloists headed by James Gilchrist as the Evangelist, recorded Bach’s rendering of the Passion of Christ, finishing just ahead of complete lockdown. Their efforts are now available on disc as a testimony not only to the drama of Bach’s score, but also to the urgency of a week when the world changed.

Reviews

... here we have a reading that feels as if, deep in the psyche of the performers, they know this is all happening close to the wire. Gilchrist is again on masterly form, risking pinpoint precision for graphic description in a way that makes the experience feel ‘live’ in every respect. ... For all the constraints that Covid-19 has inflicted on BCJ’s 30th-anniversary year, this extraordinarily vital, human and emotional rendering joins the recent St Matthew in another effulgent release of exceptional expressive candour and range.  Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
Gramophone Awards 2020
Gramophone Editor's Choice

Error on this page? Let us know here

Need more information on this product? Click here