Bach St Matthew Passion
in preparation and performance

Accentus ACC 10212 & 10256

A fine account of the Matthew Passion in JS Bach's own church in Leipzig, greatly enhanced by its coupling with an excellent documentary about the St Thomas' schoolboys, from whom are drawn by audition the prestigious choir.

You come to see the actual performance with a feeling that you have got to know some of the boys, and their arduous life as boarding schoolboys who get a fine musical education based upon preparing works of Bach for performance evey week.

We get great respect for the tireless coach and conductor Georg Christoph Biller, and taken together these DVDs will give you a new appreciation of the Matthew Passion as you identify with the audience, many of them parents of the boy scholars.

Recommended even though you've probably got other versions.

Peter Grahame Woolf