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).

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the marvelous Berliner Philharmoniker and performs Johann Sebastian Bach's splendid St. John Passion. The solo voice parts are sung by the renowned soloists Juliane Banse, Michael Chance, Ian Bostridge, Rainer Trost and Thomas Quasthoff. Also joining is the famous RIAS Kammerchor. Bach composed his passion, based on the Gospel of John, during his first year as director of church music in Leipzig. It was first performed on Good Friday in 1724. Highlights of this piece are the opening chorus, the death of Jesus and the closing chorale. The music is full of emotions due to the fragile solo passages and the intense choir parts.

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.

Bernhard Haitink conducts the Berlin Philharmonic and the Ernst Senff Choir in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. This concert took place at the Berliner Philharmonie in 1992. The final chorus of Mahler's beautiful and impressive second symphony never fails to move its listeners. The epic character of the work is not only due to the impressive size of the orchestra and the use of an organ and soloists, but also due to the themes of life and death that are addressed. The listener may recognize a number of Mahler's earlier compositions from his song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Soloists are Sylvia McNair (soprano) and Jard van Nes (contralto).

David Rabinovich conducts the Apollo Ensemble in a performance of G. Ph. 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.

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.

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).