bach BWV 245

I have just purchased a wonderful copy,on vinyl,of the full piece,called Johannes -Passion,conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt

anyone knwo anything about this,either the BWV or the recording or the conductor? It sounds truly wonderful even on a Planar3

 

Well you've done pretty well. The St John Passion is one of Bach's greatest works, and Harnoncourt is one of the great interpreters. I don't know how many times he's recorded the piece but you can rest assured that you've got a great recording of it. If you like that may I humbly suggest you get yourself a copy of the Matthew Passion, another equally stunning piece.
Is your St John Passion in one of those beautiful white archive box sets, with booklets and all that gubbins. One of my most disapointing moments ever was buying that self-same piece with NH conducting, getting it home and the record sounding awful. I can only presume it had been stored badly and suffered groove damage

 

Harnoncourt leans strongly towards the 'modern' style of Bach interpretation, with the bright, luminous textures and fast speeds that implies - personally I far prefer this kind of performance to the likes of the Klemperer-era monstrosities (massive choir and orchestra, very slow speeds throughout), but of course many people feel the opposite.

If you get round to it, do check out the B Minor Mass which is probably my personal favourite of the 'big' Bach choral works.

 

Very good pick indeed. Also one of my favorites.

To make the most of it, may I suggest you take the phone off hook, don't cut your listening to pieces, and follow what's happening on the accompanying book, at least the first couple of times or so. You want to know what the evangelist is saying (even if, as you surely do, you already know the basic story ). Will remind you of your sunday school days.

And after that, as Lordsummit suggest you can pass on to Matthew, and take PeteH's advice for the B mass.

The only Bach vocal work by Harnoncourt I do not like is the Xmas Oratorio. A matter of personal taste

Enjoy

 

cheers

it is indeed a box set,with booklet etc etc,but its written in !German