Bach’s great depiction of Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion, the St Matthew Passion, was unprecedented when it was first performed on Good Friday 1727. All that could have prepared the congregation at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig was their own Lutheran belief in importance of reliving the suffering and transcendence of Christ. Bach’s music, though, speaks to the whole of humanity in its monumental depth and drama. Helen joins Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and The Choir of Queen’s College Oxford, directed by Owen Rees.
Robert Murray (Evangelist) / Tristan Hambleton (Christ)
Keri Fuge (soprano) / Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano)
Mark Wilde (tenor) / William Thomas (bass)
The Choir of The Queen’s College / The Boys of Radley College Choir
Owen Rees (conductor)