Easter Passions

Bach's famous Saint Matthew Passion premiered on Good Friday of 1727 in the St. Thomas Church of Leipzig in Eastern Germany. Since then, it has become essential to the repertoire of Easter compositions. In this 2014 concert from the Grande Auditório Gulbenkian in Lisbon, the Portuguese Gulbenkian Orchestra interprets the work under the baton of Swiss conductor Michel Corboz, accompanied by the wonderful vocalists of the Gulbenkian Choir, and the children's choir Coro Infantil da Universidade de Lisboa. The soloists are Sandrine Piau (soprano), Carlos Mena (counter-tenor), Vincent Lièvre-Picard (evangelist), Christophe Genz (tenor), André Baleiro (Christ) and Peter Harvey (bass).

The choir and the orchestra of the Bach Collegium Japan - shooting-star among the celebrated baroque specialists -perform the St John's Passion with only a small ensemble of about 50 musicians (as was custom at the time) under the former Ton Koopman student Masaaki Suzuki. Recorded Live from The Suntory Hall in Tokyo/Japan. Soloists: Gerd Tuerck, Stephan MacLeod, Chiyuki Urano, Miduri Suzuki, Robin Blaze.

The Apollo Ensemble performs Händel’s Brockes-Passion (HWV 48) in the Oudhoornse Kerk in Alphen aan de Rijn, The Netherlands. The Brockes-Passion is a German oratorio libretto by Barthold Heinrich Brockes first published in 1712 and revised multiple times in the years after. Brockes was an influential German poet who re-worked the traditional form of the Passion oratorio, adding reflective and descriptive poetry into the texture of the Passion. The most famous setting of the text is by Händel. It is not known exactly why or when the composer set the text of the Brockes-Passion, which was already used by other composers, but it is known the work was performed in Hamburg in 1719. Händel's Brockes-Passion is said to be a worthy contribution to the genre, with passages of great beauty, such as the duet for Mary and her son. Bach was influenced by the work in his famous St John Passion.

Bach's famous Saint Matthew Passion premiered on Good Friday of 1727 in the St. Thomas Church of Leipzig in Eastern Germany. Since then, it has become essential to the repertoire of Easter compositions. In this 2014 concert from the Grande Auditório Gulbenkian in Lisbon, the Portuguese Gulbenkian Orchestra interprets the work under the baton of Swiss conductor Michel Corboz, accompanied by the wonderful vocalists of the Gulbenkian Choir, and the children's choir Coro Infantil da Universidade de Lisboa. The soloists are Sandrine Piau (soprano), Carlos Mena (counter-tenor), Vincent Lièvre-Picard (evangelist), Christophe Genz (tenor), André Baleiro (Christ) and Peter Harvey (bass).

David Rabinovich conducts the Apollo Ensemble in a performance of Georg Philipp Telemann's Brockes Passion, TWV5:1. Soloists are Renate Arends and Elvire Beekhuizen (soprano), Franske van der Wiel and Nicola Wemyss (alto), Falco van Loon and Pablo Gregorian (tenor) and Michiel Meijer and Andrew Hopper (bass). Recorded at Oudshoornse Kerk, Alphen aan de Rijn, The Netherlands in 2019. The earth trembles and shakes, Mary cries, the apostles don't know what to do … Barthold Heinrich Brockes wrote a masterly libretto in 1712 about the suffering of Jesus. He places the audience in the middle of the story, Telemann adds even more force to the drama of the suffering story with his emotional music, with an unusual and grand occupation at that time, even using natural horn. The eight singers sing the roles of the characters from the story such as Jesus, Mary, Peter and Caiaphas and also take care of the judgments. The result is an extremely lively, exciting performance that will stay with the audience for a long time.

J. S. Bach composed his St John Passion, BWV 245, in 1724, during his first year as cantor in the German city of Leipzig. The work was first performed on Good Friday, April 7, 1724, in St. Nicholas Church. In the St John Passion, Bach sets to music the Passion story as told in the Gospel of John. In contrast to the other three gospels, where the humanity of Christ is more prominent, the Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus’s divine origin. Although the St John Passion is not quite as well-known as Bach's beloved St Matthew Passion (1727), it is certainly not inferior: moving listeners with its emotional depth and drama, the St John Passion is a magnificent work. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of its first performance in Leipzig, conductor Marco Berrini leads the Coro Giovanile Italiano, Coro dell’Almo Collegio Borromeo, and the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in an impressive performance of Bach’s sacred masterpiece. Soloists are Claudia Reinhard (soprano), Martina Baroni (alto), Marcel Hubner (tenor, Evangelist), Oliver Kringel (tenor), Fulvio Bettini (baritone, Pilate), and Diego Maffezzoni (bass, Jesus). This performance was recorded at Cattedrale di Vigevano, Italy, in 2024.