This version of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, is led by British keyboardist Richard Egarr, increasingly often active as a conductor, at the helm of the venerable Academy of Ancient Music historical-instrument group. It has several distinctive features that more than justify a new recording of this towering work. Egarr reverts to the original 1727 score of the work, which has not often been recorded; most performances, naturally enough, use Bach's later revisions. The 1727 score is a sparer one in several respects, ...
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This version of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, is led by British keyboardist Richard Egarr, increasingly often active as a conductor, at the helm of the venerable Academy of Ancient Music historical-instrument group. It has several distinctive features that more than justify a new recording of this towering work. Egarr reverts to the original 1727 score of the work, which has not often been recorded; most performances, naturally enough, use Bach's later revisions. The 1727 score is a sparer one in several respects, notably at the end of the first part, where Bach at first offered a simple chorale rather than the more elaborate chorus "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß." It also has a single continuo line knitting together the whole work. Whatever one thinks of this, it fits well with Egarr's overall conception of the work, which sets emotionally direct performances by the very fine soloists against a driving, rather dry background. Egarr himself controls the whole thing from the harpsichord...
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