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Recordings & Discussions of Other Vocal Works: Main Page | Motets BWV 225-231 | Mass in B minor BWV 232 | Missae Breves & Sanctus BWV 233-242 | Magnificat BWV 243 | Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 | Johannes-Passion BWV 245 | Lukas-Passion BWV 246 | Markus-Passion BWV 247 | Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 | Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 | Chorales BWV 250-438 | Geistliche Lieder BWV 439-507 | AMN BWV 508-523 | Quodlibet BWV 524 | Aria BWV 1127 | Motet BWV 1165=Anh 159

Johannes-Passion BWV 245
Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner


V-3

J.S. Bach: St. John Passion · Johannes-Passion · Passion Selon St Jean

Johannes-Passion BWV 245

John Eliot Gardiner

Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists

Tenor [Evangelist]: Anthony Rolfe-Johnson; Bass [Jesus]: Stephen Varcoe; Bass [Pilate, Arias]: Cornelius Hauptmann; Soprano [No. 63]: Nancy Argenta; Soprano [No. 13]: Ruth Holton; Soprano [Maid]: Gillian Ross; Counter-tenor: Michael Chance; Tenor [No. 19, 62]: Neill Archer; Tenor [Arias]: Rufus Müller; Tenor [Servant]: Andrew Murgatroyd; Tenor [Servant]: Nicholas Robertson; Bass [Peter]: Simon Birchall

Archiv Produktion

Mar 1986

2-CD / TT: 106:32

Recorded in All Saints Church, Tooting, London, England.
1st recording of Johannes-Passion BWV 245 by J.E. Gardiner.
Buy this album at: Amazon.com | Amazon.com [Highlights]


V-4

Bach: St John Passion

 

PDF

Johannes-Passion BWV 245

John Eliot Gardiner

Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists

Tenor [Evangelist]: Mark Padmore; Bass [Jesus]: Hanno Müller-Brachmann; Soprano: Joanne Lunn; Soprano: Katharine Fuge; Alto: Bernarda Fink; Bass [Pilatus]: Peter Harvey

Soli Deo Gloria SDG-712

Mar 22, 2003

2-CD / TT: 114:47

Recorded live at Kaiserdom, Königslutter, Germany.
2nd recording of Johannes-Passion BWV 245 by J.E. Gardiner.
Buy this album at:
2-CD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de
Music Download: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de


V-5

Bach: St. John Passion

 

Johannes-Passion BWV 245 - 1724 version

John Eliot Gardiner

Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists

Tenor [Evangelist]: Mark Padmore; Bass [Christus]: Peter Harvey; Soprano: Katharine Fuge; Counter-tenor: Robin Blaze; Tenor: Nicholas Mulroy; Tenor: Jeremy Budd; Bass [Pilate, Arias]: Matthew Brook
Daniel Yeadon (Viola da gamba & cello); Evangelina Mascardi (Lute); Kati Debretzeni (Violin)

DVD 3332

Aug 24, 2008

DVD / TT: 125:00

Recorded live at Royal Albert Hall, London, England in BBC Promenade Concert No. 51 ('Proms').
3rd recording of Johannes-Passion BWV 245 by J.E. Gardiner.
See: Johannes-Passion BWV 245 - conducted By John Eliot Gardiner

John Eliot Gardiner - General Discussion - St. John Passion

Alexander Vassiliadis wrote (March 24, 2003):
I heard a concert with Sir J. E. Gardiner performing the St. John Passion in the Kaiserdom at Köigslutter - Germany. Generally it was a very emotional and moving performance that showed all the qualities of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists. One can really see that all the singers and players - and also John Eliot Gardiner are more familiarwith Bach since their Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. It's quite obvious that Gardiner knows the piece extremely well. In the concert he showed this by a much more free performance compared to his CD recording. For example he let choir sing the 2nd stanza of "Wer hat dich so geschlagen" a cappella and it became one of the highlights of the concert. THEY SANG LIKE ANGELS!!!!!

Surprising were some very slow tempi.
In the opening chorus I missed that inexorable and pressing rhythm in the bass line. In this piece also the coloraturas of the sopranos got sometimes out of control. Furthermore the sound the sound of the sopranos was very unbalanced. In the middle part the section after bar 69 ("verherrlicht...") began much too explosive and had thus an effect of forced and even martial sound.

The turba - choruses were all brilliant and dazzled by an immensely clear diction and rthythmical energy. Also the chorus inserts in "Eilt..." showed the perfect intonation of the Monteverdi Choir. When Gardiner slowed down the tempo more and more in the final chorus everyone knew that he had spiritualized what he is said in the text.

Among the soloists the best was Peter Harvey directly followed by Bernarda Fink (her "Es ist vollbracht" was heartbreaking) and Katherine Fuge. The second soprano (Joanne Lunn) sang "Ich folge dir gleichfalls" with a very thin and weak voice. The voice didn't have any warmth and moreover Joanne Lunn weas much in trouble to reach her top notes and to sing chromatic lines. I heard her in 2000 during the BCP but I don't think that her voice developed since that time. The concerts there were in my opinion even better. I think that the concert would have been even better, if Katherine Fuge would have sung both arias. A singer, who is good for chorus singing is not automatically also good for singing solo pieces.

But these were the only flaws in an otherwise more than great performance.

Neil Halliday wrote (March 25, 2003):
Alexander Vassiliadis wrote of the opening chorus of Gardiner's SJP:
"In the opening chorus I missed that inexorable and pressing rhythm in the bass line."
Was this due to too fast (or too slow) a tempo, or lack of attention to the projection of (the differentiation between) the bass (violone) quarter note figure and the repeated eighth-note figure in the cello/bassoon(s)?

You remarked that Gardiner chose some slow tempos. It will be strange, indeed, to hear that Gardiner has started taking things too slowly; in my experience (admittedly limited with Gardiner), he has been one of the speed merchants who have offended my own taste for more moderate tempi in baroque choral works.

Alexander Vassiliadis wrote (March 24, 2003):
[To Neil Halliday] I think it wasn't just a result of the slow tempo.

Gardiner had to fight against very bad acoustics (the church is really huge) and so he in this case had to choose a very slow tempo (although a friend, who heard the SJP in Eisenach a day later told me he also played it very slow there). The second problem did you mention already. You could not hear any differentiation between the bas and cello /bassoon and the third aspect was that he (I don't no for which reason) did not play the piece with any sort of drive forwards. It might be that it is his way of approach to it.

I don´t want gto say that I generally am for very fast tempi as for example Reinhard Goebel plays, but I think that especially Gardiner who always wants and wanted to show the dance rhythm and the rhythmical strength and energy that is in Bach's music should see such things.

 

Johannes-Passion BWV 245: Details
Complete Recordings: 1900-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-2029 | Complete Recordings sung in English | Recordings of Individual Movements
General Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Systematic Discussions: Part 1: Mvts. 1-7 | Part 2: Mvts. 6-14 | Part 3: Mvts. 15-20 | Part 4: Mvts. 21-26 | Part 5: Mvts. 27-32 | Part 6: Mvts. 36-40 | Part 7: Summary
Individual Recordings: BWV 245 - F. Brüggen | BWV 245 - S. Cleobury | BWV 245 - P. Dombrecht | BWV 245 - D, Fasolis | BWV 245 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 245 - E.z. Guttenberg | BWV 245 - N. Harnoncourt-H. Gillesberger | BWV 245 - P. Herreweghe | BWV 245 - E. Higginbottom | BWV 245 - E. Jochum | BWV 245 - E. Kleiber | BWV 245 - P.J. Leusink | BWV 245 - H. Max | BWV 245 - P. McCreesh | BWV 245 - H. Münch | BWV 245 - P. Neumann | BWV 245 - A. Parrott | BWV 245 - P. Pickett | BWV 245 - K. Richter | BWV 245 - H. Rilling | BWV 245 - P. Schreier | BWV 245 - R. Shaw | BWV 245 - K. Slowik | BWV 245 - M. Suzuki | BWV 245 - J.v. Veldhoven
Articles: Saint John Passion, BWV 245 [T.N. Towe] | The Passion of Saint John, BWV 245 [M. Steinberg] | St. John Passion [A. Wong & N. Proctor] | The St. John Passion on stage [U. Golomb] | Literary Origins of Bach’s St. John Passion: 1704-1717 [W. Hoffman] | Bach’s Passion Pursuit [W. Hoffman] | Bach's St. John Passion and its Dramatic History of Origin [M. Maul]

John Eliot Gardiner: Short Biography | Monteverdi Choir | English Baroque Soloists
Recordings of Vocal Works:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Videos | Recordings of Instrumental Works
General Discussions:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Newsletters
Cantatas:
Cantatas BWV 106, 118b, 198 | Cantatas BWV 140, 147 | Cantatas BWV 11, 37, 43, 128 | Cantatas BWV 6, 66 | Cantatas BWV 72, 73, 111, 156 | Cantatas BWV 82, 83, 125, 200
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage:
BCP - Vols 1&8 | BCP - Vol. 6 | BCP - Vol. 9 | BCP - Vol. 13 | BCP - Vol. 14 | BCP - Vol. 15 | BCP - Vol. 21 | BCP - Vol. 22 | BCP - Vol. 23 | BCP - Vol. 24 | BCP - Vol. 26 | Bach Cantata Pilgrimage DVD | DVD John Eliot Gardiner in Rehearsal
Other Vocal Works:
BWV 232 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 244 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 245 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 248 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 1127 - J.E. Gardiner
Table of recordings by BWV Number


Recordings & Discussions of Other Vocal Works: Main Page | Motets BWV 225-231 | Mass in B minor BWV 232 | Missae Breves & Sanctus BWV 233-242 | Magnificat BWV 243 | Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 | Johannes-Passion BWV 245 | Lukas-Passion BWV 246 | Markus-Passion BWV 247 | Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 | Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 | Chorales BWV 250-438 | Geistliche Lieder BWV 439-507 | AMN BWV 508-523 | Quodlibet BWV 524 | Aria BWV 1127 | Motet BWV 1165=Anh 159




 

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