St John Passion

“The premiere of the Passion in 1724 provided Bach with the opportunity to stamp the Good Friday Vespers with his own artistic individuality for the first time. The Good Friday Vespers had just become the most important event of the year. […] Bach had never been in a situation where he could present his abilities so spectacularly. None of his previous premieres required such deep preparation, and none of them enhanced his experience concerning monumental compositions to such an extent.” This is how musicologist Christoph Wolff, the biographer for Johann Sebastian Bach, assessed the significance of the Saint John Passion in the context of the composer’s entire career. If only we were also able to describe what this gigantic Bach piece means to us with articulation way. In fact, the Hungarian poet János Pilinszky did so for us when he wrote the following about the Passion: “This music makes a case for heaven, and is proof that life does exist without opposites, moreover, that life without opposites has the greatest and ’most exciting’ dynamism.” András Keller conducts this impeccable wonder of European music – or maybe European culture, featuring the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir, and excellent soloists.