The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records - Saint Matthew Passion Pages at the Teri Noel
Towe Home Pages
Johann Sebastian Bach
The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On
Records
This remarkable photograph is not a computer generated composite; the original of the Weydenhammer
Portrait Fragment, all that remains of the portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that belonged to his pupil
Johann Christian Kittel, is resting gently on the surface of the original of the 1748 Elias Gottlob
Haussmann Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.
1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait, Courtesy of William H. Scheide, Princeton, New Jersey
Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, ca. 1733, Artist Unknown, Courtesy of the Weydenhammer Descendants
Photograph by Teri Noel Towe
©Teri Noel Towe, 2001, All Rights Reserved
The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records
Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Introduction and Table of Contents
Introduction
This critical discography of the recordings of the Saint Matthew Passion, was completed late in 1989. I
have made next to no effort to update it. I have, with one exception, added no new recordings, and I
have made no effort to add the catalogue numbers of recordings that are now available on CD but that
were out of print when the discography was prepared, lo these many years. I prefer to leave it "as is", to
stand or fall, on its own, as a historical document that reflects the state of affairs as I found them, just
before the volcanic explosion of new allegedly "authentic" recordings -- purportedly "HIP" and
employing period instruments -- that have overtaken and engulfed the listener, novice or educated, like a
nuée ardente. The knowledgeable and up-to-date reader will spot the occasional "inaccuracy" that will
serve as a cogent reminder that this essay, like its fellows in this section of my home pages, is a fly in
amber.
Please remember that the copyright in this article belong to the Cambridge University Press, and, should
you choose to honor me and my work product by quoting from it, please be sure to state that the
source is Choral Music On Records, that the final version of this discography is to be found in Choral
Music On Records, and that the discography appears at this website by courtesy of the Cambridge
University Press.
Teri Noel Towe
December 17, 2001
Table of Contents
1. Bach's Own Peformance Practice
2. The Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Tradition
3. The Charismatic Iconoclasts
4. The Straube/Ramin Tradition
5. Other Recordings, 1950 - 1989
6. Summary
Endnotes
Alphabetical Discography
Please click here to return to the Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records Main Page.
P. S.: Please don't forget that, if you are interested in a thorough, accurate discography of the
recordings of the Saint Matthew Passion that have appeared since the preparation of this article, you
should go at once to Aryeh Oron's remarkable Bach Cantatas Website.
Please click on 
to return to the Johann Sebastian Bach Index Page.
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to return to the Teri Noel Towe Welcome Page.
teritowe@alumni.Princeton.EDU
Copyright, Teri Noel Towe, 1989, 1997, 2001
All Rights Reserved
The The Critical Discographies from Choral Music On Records - Saint Matthew Passion Pages
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