Kammerchor der Frauenkirche, Ensemble Frauenkirche Dresden - Bach: Johannespassion, BWV 245 (St John Passion) (2018) [24/96]

Having enjoyed great success with the Christmas Oratorio and the B minor Mass, the Chamber Choir and ensemble frauenkirche dresden under the direction of Frauenkirche music director Matthias Grünert now continue their series of great works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Their St John Passion live from Dresden's Frauenkirche enthralled audience and critics alike at Passiontide 2017. Release on a double album not only makes this great work readily accessible at home, it transports you directly into an unforgettable evening of drama.

Matthias Grünert, the Frauenkirche’s Erster Kantor since the church’s rededication, is the seasoned Bach expert who leads the Chamber Choir and ensemble frauenkirche dresden through the Passion. These experienced musical partners are complemented by a group of internationally renowned soloists: Camilla Nylund (soprano) and Andreas Scheibner (bass), both Kammersänger of the Land of Saxony, Nicole Pieper (alto), Falko Hönisch (Vox Christi) – and at their head Tilman Lichdi (Evangelist), one of the great recitative tenors of our day.

Bach's Passio secundum Johannem is the later of the two Passions of his that have come down to us complete. It portrays the dramatic turns of events and fateful inevitability of the last hours of Jesus, the Christ, "intensely, and altogether with genius, notably in the choruses," or so Robert Schumann concluded. Amazingly, the St John Passion is the only one of Bach's oratorical works that never received final form at his hands, as he was revising it and changing its conceptual approach over the course of his entire life.

Although Bach and particularly his vocal oeuvre is often associated with Leipzig, he and his music are just as well suited to Dresden, the Florence of the Elbe – where for years on end he had petitioned the Elector for the title of "Court Composer". The city's Frauenkirche provides the perfect backdrop to the intense drama of the Passion music, having a direct link to Bach: it was in this church, in the year 1736, that the great Thomaskantor played the newly dedicated organ in that sacred place where his "Passion according to John" was to be enacted almost three hundred years later.

Tracklist:
01. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 1 Chor: Herr, unser Herrscher
02. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 2 a-e Rezitativ: Jesus ging mit seinen Jüngern
03. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 3 Choral: O große Lieb
04. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 4 Rezitativ: Auf daß das Wort erfüllet würde
05. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 5 Choral: Dein Will gescheh, Herr Gott, zugleich
06. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 6 Rezitativ: Die Schar aber und der Oberhauptmann
07. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 7 Arie: Von den Stricken meiner Sünden
08. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 8 Rezitativ: Simon Petrus aber folgete Jesu nach
09. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 9 Arie: Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten
10. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 10 Rezitativ: Derselbige Jünger war dem Hohenpriester bekannt
11. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 11 Choral: Wer hat dich so geschlagen
12. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 12 a-c Rezitativ: Und Hannas sandte ihn gebunden
13. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 13 Arie: Ach, mein Sinn, wo willt du endlich hin
14. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 1: No. 14 Choral: Petrus, der nicht denkt zurück
15. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 15 Choral: Christus, der uns selig macht
16. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 16 a-e Rezitativ: Da führeten sie Jesum
17. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 17 Choral: Ach, großer König, groß zu allen Zeiten
18. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 18 a-c Rezitativ: Da sprach Pilatus zu ihm
19. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 18 Arioso: Betrachte, meine Seel
20. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 20 Arie: Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken
21. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 21 a-g Rezitativ: Und die Kriegsknechte flochten eine Krone
22. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 22 Choral: Durch dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn
23. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 23 a-g Rezitativ: Die Jüden aber schrieen und sprachen
24. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 24 Arie: Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen
25. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 25 a-c Rezitativ: Allda kreuzigten sie ihn
26. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 26 Choral: In meines Herzens Grunde
27. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No 27 a-c Rezitativ: Die Kriegsknechte aber
28. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 28 Choral: Er nahm alles wohl in acht
29. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 29 Rezitativ: Und von Stund an nahm sie der Jünger zu sich
30. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 30 Arie: Es ist vollbracht
31. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 31 Rezitativ: Und neiget das Haupt und verschied
32. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 32 Arie: Mein teurer Heiland, laß dich fragen
33. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 33 Rezitativ: Und siehe da, der Vorhang im Tempel zerriß
34. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 34 Arioso: Mein Herz, in dem die ganze Welt
35. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 35 Arie: Zerfließe, mein Herz, in Fluten der Zähren
36. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 36 Rezitativ: Die Jüden aber, dieweil es der Rüsttag war
37. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 37 Choral: O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn
38. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: No. 38 Rezitativ: Darnach bat Pilatum Joseph von Arimathia
39. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: 39. Chor: Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine
40. Johannespassion, BWV 245, Pt. 2: 40. Choral: Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein

Personnel:
Camila Nylund, Sopran
Nicole Pieper, Alt
Tilman Lichdi, Tenor
Andreas Scheibner, Bass
Falko Hönisch, Vox Christi
Kammerchor der Frauenkirche
ensemble frauenkirche dresden
Matthias Grünert, Leitung