JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Matthew Passion

 

The Evangelist – Nicholas Mulroy

Jesus – Matthew Brook

Susan Hamilton – Soprano

Cecilia Osmond – Soprano

Clare Wilkinson – Alto

Annie Gill – Alto

Malcolm Bennett – Tenor

Brian Bannatyne-Scott – Bass

 

Dunedin Consort & Players / John Butt

 

“Crisp singing and clear diction is matched by outstanding technical ability by the singers.”

Sunday Herald

 

The Dunedin Consort, under the direction of John Butt, follows its award-winning recording of Messiah with J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion.  This recording cements the Consort’s reputation as a group with particular expertise in Baroque music and performance practice.

 

The Dunedin Consort has established a reputation for performing familiar works from the Baroque era in ways which shed fresh light on the original performance: this new recording presents the Matthew Passion for the first time in Bach's last performed version.

           

John Butt and the Consort recreate the instrumentation and vocal scoring that Bach employed to deliver a unique and historically informed recording.

 

Matthew Passion, one of Bach’s most celebrated choral masterpieces, is an emotional and challenging musical experience delivered with style and insight by the Consort.

 

In 2007, the Consort’s tenth anniversary year, the group reached a new level of critical acclaim, culminating in the Classic FM Gramophone Award for Messiah in the Baroque Vocal category. This is the only such award to a Scottish group in recent years (and the first to an ensemble that is not a Scottish National Company or BBC orchestra) and now gives Dunedin a truly international reputation. 

 

The Dunedin Consort has won praise for the natural style of their soloists (an authoritative bass and a superb contralto The Guardian) and renown for the virtuosity of the singers.

 

The Consort has appeared at festivals in Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands as well as at the Edinburgh International Festival, has appeared on BBC 2 and BBC 4 television and been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Scotland.

 

Linn 3SACDs CKD313