Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6293 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-10
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Hybrid SACD, SACD, Box set
• Dimensions: .43 pounds
• Running time: 160 minutes

Review
Yet Linn s on-going commitment to SACD pays off handsomely, with three-dimensional crowds and vocal soloists standing forward of their accompaniment all confirmation of this as my new benchmark. --BBC Music Magazine, April 2008

Review
Butt's St Matthew is truly original in spheres resonating beyond established parameters. --Gramophone

Review
One of the finest available one-voice-per-part Bach performances. --Independent on Sunday

Customer Reviews

A vivid reflection of Butt's Bach scholarship
John Butt is a respectable Bach scholar and he has done a great deal of work with regard to Bach's vocal scoring in the two Passions. Here for the second time on record (I think) he has used the OVPP (one voice per part) for his performance of St Matthew Passion. Six concertists, Jesus, Evangelist and two soprano repienists constitute the entire vocal force. It works brilliantly to convey both senses of intimacy and austerity in Bach's score. This is matched by Butt's fluid pacing of the music and the performer's lucid diction (no operative singing style here) and the result is a most refreshing and natural sounding Matthew Passion that I have heard in years. Highly recommended as an alternative to usual HIP recordings of this music such as Herreweghe's, Gardiner's, or even the more self-consciously dramatic McCreesh (the first OVPP recording).

Supreme playing and singing . . .
The sheer quality and accuracy of instrumental playing is quite wonderful on this recording - slightly superior even to the already supremely high standards for Gardiner or Suzuki. The solo singing is also notable for incredibly accurate intonation - in particular from the very firm Bass/Baritone of Matthew Brook, in my opinion the finest Jesus I have heard in any recording. The house-style here is period singing of the sort that eschews vibrato to a very large extent. Clearly the idea of one-per-part in the choir will put buyers off. I can only urge that any Bach fans who are not doctrinaire about 1-p-p give this recording a try - the benefits in clarity in the big contrapuntal numbers are immense, and to my ears the chorales are more interesting and human when I can hear individual voices rather than a blended choir sound. Paul McCreesh's version of the Matthew Passion is also 1-p-p and is very fine also in parts and keenly dramatic but, as the previous reviewer hints, he adopts some extreme tempos and has some mannered touches.

At the moment this would be my desert island Matthew Passion despite how good Gardiner and Suzuki both are. I have no "authentic/period" axe to grind and found that the slight changes to instrumentation in this recording (it claims rather self-importantly to be the first recording of Bach's 1742 version) were too minor to notice - apart from the presence of a Harpsichord in the opening chorus. The reason to buy this set is not due to it being authentic but because it features the most exquisite playing and singing.

Critical reaction in the press, at least that I have read, was somewhat lukewarm in comparison to the accolades heaped on the Dunedin consort's Handel Messiah (many critics do still have a 1-p-p vs larger choir axe to grind). Don't let that put you off, this is very special indeed. The recorded sound is also extremely clear and of the highest modern standards.

Dunedin Consort's Bach St Matthew Passion
Top quality performance and recording. Choir sound particularly good - singing and playing full of energy and impact. Soloists good. Highly recommended - must be among the top St Matthew Passion recordings available.