Bach, J.S.: St. John Passion, BWV 245 English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir & John Eliot Gardiner

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One:
• 1 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 1. "Herr, unser Herrscher" 09:28
• 2 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 2. "Jesus ging mit seinen Jüngern" 02:31
• 3 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 3. "O große Lieb, o Lieb ohn' alle Maße" 00:48
• 4 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 4. "Auf daß das Wort erfüllet würde" 01:08
• 5 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 5. "Dein Will gescheh, Herr Gott, zugleich" 00:55
• 6 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 6. "Die Schar aber und der Oberhauptmann" 00:44
• 7 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 7. "Von den Stricken meiner Sünden" 04:18
• 8 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 8. "Simon Petrus aber folgete Jesu nach" 00:13
• 9 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 9. "Ich folge dir gleichfalls" 03:21
• 10 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 10. "Derselbige Jünger war dem Hohenpriester bekannt" 03:07
• 11 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 11. "Wer hat dich so geschlagen" 01:54
• 12 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 12. "Und Hannas sandte ihn gebunden" 02:20
• 13 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 13. "Ach mein Sinn" 02:36
• 14 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part One: 14. "Petrus, der nicht denkt zurück" 01:27
• Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two:
• 15 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 15. "Christus, der uns selig macht" 01:16
• 16 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 16. "Da führeten sie Jesum" 04:15
• 17 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 17. "Ach großer König, groß zu allen Zeiten" 01:29
• 18 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 18. "Da sprach Pilatus zu ihm" 02:15
• 19 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 19. "Betrachte, meine Seele" 02:40
• 20 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 20. "Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken" 09:24
• 21 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 21. "Und die Kriegsknechte flochten eine Krone von Dornen" 05:56
• 22 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 22. "Durch dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn" 00:54
• 23 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 23. "Die Jüden aber schrieen und sprachen" 04:00
• 24 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 24. "Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen" 04:07
• 25 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 25. "Allda kreuzigten sie ihn" 02:12
• 26 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 26. "In meines Herzens Grunde" 01:03
• 27 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 27. "Die Kriegsknechte aber" 03:59
• 28 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 28. "Er nahm alles wohl in Acht" 01:17
• 29 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 29. "Und von Stund an nahm sie der Jünger zu sich" 01:38
• 30 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 30. "Es ist vollbracht!" 05:19
• 31 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 31. "Und neiget das Haupt und verschied" 00:31
• 32 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 32. "Mein teurer Heiland, lass dich fragen" 04:22
• 33 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 33. "Und siehe da, der Vorhang im Tempel" 00:26
• 34 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 34. "Mein Herz, in dem die ganze Welt" 00:57
• 35 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 35. "Zerfließe, mein Herze, in Fluten der Zähren" 07:01
• 36 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 36. "Die Juden aber" 02:09
• 37 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 37. "O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn" 01:14
• 38 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 38. "Darnach bat Pilatum Joseph von Arimathia" 02:20
• 39 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 39. "Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine" 08:03
• 40 J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 / Part Two: 40. "Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein" 02:24
• Total Runtime 01:56:01

Info for Bach, J.S.: St. John Passion, BWV 245

John Eliot Gardiner, together with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, adds a new reading of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion to his remarkable legacy of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. Boasting a team of exceptional young soloists and choral singing hallmarked by intense drama, expressive nuance and spellbinding musicianship, the album was recorded in the ornate surroundings of Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre on Good Friday 2021.

The music is in turns evocative, stirring, exultant and profoundly moving. It forces the listener to contemplate the complexities of the Passion story. Regardless of one’s religious view, it captures the listener’s attention from beginning to end.

After performances in recent years of Bach’s liturgical cantatas and St Matthew Passion, John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi ensembles turn to the composer’s other great meditation on the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus. Martin Luther described the Gospel of John as ‘unique in loveliness and, in truth, the principal Gospel, far superior to the other three and much to be preferred’; Bach responded to the text with music which is by turns evocative, stirring, exultant and profoundly moving – music that holds our attention from beginning to end. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists will be joined by a dynamic cast of exciting soloists to bring the story of the passion to life.

Located in Oxford’s medieval city centre, the Sheldonian Theatre is the principal assembly room of the University, and the regular meeting place of Congregation, the body which controls the University’s affairs. All public ceremonies of the University are performed here, notably the annual Encaenia. The architect was a young Christopher Wren, then Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, with as yet little practical experience of building. Inspired by drawings of Roman theatres, he adopted their D-shaped plan. However, the open arena of Rome, unsuited to the English climate, had to be covered.

John Eliot Gardiner comments on this concert: “Bach really is the universal composer, whose music can touch anybody, regardless of religious background or nationality. We are encouraged and hopeful that through this concert we can connect to a much wider audience, to whom we can’t be physically close, but who at a distance can be drawn into the rituals of the unfolding of this magical passion.”

"Don’t expect polish at every corner as one would a studio recording; both the deliberate and undeliberate rough edges are part of possibly the most incandescently full-blooded interpretation to date." (Gramophone)

Nick Pritchard, tenor (Evangelist)
William Thomas, bass (Christus)
Alex Ashworth, baritone (Pilatus)
Julia Doyle, soprano
Alexander Chance, counter-tenor
Peter Davoren, tenor
English Baroque Soloists
Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Sir John Eliot Gardiner
is revered as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians, constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation and standing as a leader in contemporary musical life. His work, as founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir (MC), English Baroque Soloists (EBS) and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR), has marked him out as a key figure both in the early music revival and as a pioneer of historically informed performances.

As a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Gardiner conducts repertoire from the 17th to the 20th centuries. He was awarded the Concertgebouw Prize in January 2016.

The extent of Gardiner’s repertoire is illustrated in the extensive catalogue of award-winning recordings with his own ensembles and leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic on major labels (including Decca, Philips, Erato and 30 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon), as wide-ranging as Mozart, Schumann, Berlioz, Elgar and Kurt Weill, in addition to works by Renaissance and Baroque composers. His many recording accolades include two GRAMMY awards and he has received more Gramophone Awards than any other living artist.

Gardiner has also conducted opera productions; at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, at the Vienna State Opera and at Teatro alla Scala, Milan. From 1983 to 1988 he was artistic director of Opéra de Lyon, where he founded its new orchestra.

Recent achievements with the Monteverdi ensembles include the RPS award winning Monteverdi 450 project in 2017, a reprise of the 2000’s famous Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, which toured to some of Europe’s most famous concert halls and churches in 2018, a five-year exploration of Berlioz’s major works to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death, and a landmark performance of Verdi’s Requiem at London’s Westminster Cathedral in aid of Cancer Research UK. In 2019 Gardiner conducted new productions of Handel’s Semele and Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, and gave his debut performances in Colombia, Russia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. The beginning of 2020 saw Gardiner conduct the ORR in three Beethoven symphony cycles as part of the Beethoven 250 anniversary celebrations, with concerts at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Harris Theatre in Chicago. So far in 2021 he has conducted a live streamed performance of Bach’s St John Passion from Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre and performed at several of Europe’s most prestigious music festivals, including his 60th appearance at the BBC Proms.

An authority on the music of J. S. Bach, Gardiner’s book, Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in October 2013 by Allen Lane, leading to the Prix des Muses award (Singer-Polignac). Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, Sir John Eliot Gardiner holds several honorary doctorates. He was awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

This album contains no booklet.