Bach - St. John Passion, BWV 245 (Harnoncourt)

CD1
01. Chorus - Herr, unser Herrscher (10:09)
02. Evangelista, Jesus, Chorus - Jesus ging mit seinen Jungern (2:22)
03. Choral - O grose Lieb, o Lieb ohn' all (0:58)
04. Evangelista, Jesus - Auf das das Wort erfullet wer (1:14)
05. Choral - Dein Will gescheh, Herr Gott, (0:57)
06. Evangelista - Die Schar aber und der Oberha (0:44)
07. Aria - Von den Stricken meiner Sunde (4:49)
08. Evangelista - Simon Petrus aber folgete Jes (0:11)
09. Aria - Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit (4:02)
10. Evangelista, Ancilla, Petr - Derselbige Junger war dem Hoh (2:59)
11. Choral - Wer hat dich so geschlagen (1:47)
12. Evangelista, Chorus - Und Hannas sandte ihn gebunde (1:58)
13. Aria - Ach, mein Sinn, wo willst du (2:28)
14. Choral - Petrus, der nicht denkt zuruc (1:22)
15. Choral - Christus, der uns selig macht (1:10)
16. Evangelista, Pilatus, Chor - Da fuhreten sie Jesum von Kai (4:08)
17. Choral - Ach groser Konig, gros zu all (1:36)
18. Evangelista, Pilatus, Jesu - Da sprach Pilatus zu ihm (1:55)
19. Arioso - Betrachte, mein Seel, mit ang (2:33)
20. Aria - Erwage, wie sein blutgefarbte (7:54)

CD2
01. Evangelista, Chorus - Und die Kriegsknechte flochte (5:42)
02. Choral - Durch dein Gefangnis, Gottes (0:57)
03. Evangelista, Chorus - Die Juden aber schrieen und s (4:01)
04. Aria, Chor - Eilt ihr angefochtnen Seelen (4:08)
05. Evangelista, Chorus - Allda kreuzigten sie ihn (1:54)
06. Choral - In meines Herzens Grunde (0:58)
07. Evangelista, Chorus - Die Kriegsknechte aber, da si (2:01)
08. Evangelista - Auf das erfullet wurde die Sc (1:37)
09. Choral - Er nahm alles wohl in acht (1:03)
10. Evangelista, Jesus - Und von Stund an nahm sie der (1:21)
11. Aria - Es ist vollbracht (5:58)
12. Evangelista, Aria, Choral - Und neiget das Haupt und vers (5:17)
13. Evangelista, Arioso - Und siehe da, der Vorhang im (1:23)
14. Aria - Zerfliese mein Herze (7:00)
15. Evangelista - Die Juden aber, dieweil es de (2:06)
16. Choral - O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn (1:06)
17. Evangelista - Darnach bat Pilatum Joseph vo (1:46)
18. Chorus - Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebei (8:34)
19. Ach Herr - las dein lieb Engelein (2:16)

Tenor [Evangelist & Arias]: Anthony Rolfe-Johnson; 
Bass [Jesus]: Robert Holl; 
Soprano [Arias & Ancilla]: Angela Maria Blasi; 
Contralto [Arias]: Marjana Lipovšek; 
Tenor [Servus]: Franz Leitner; 
Bass [Petrus, Pilatus & Arias]: Anton Scharinger

Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Chorus Master: Erwin Ortner)
Concentus Musicus Wien
Nikolaus Harnoncourt – conductor

The history of the St. John Passion BWV 245 is more complex than that of Bach's other surviving setting of the Passion story, the St. Matthew Passion BWV 244. First performed in 1724, three years before the first version of the Matthew, this direct and deceptively "simple" oratorio was subjected to a revision the following year that resulted in the substitution of new choruses for the opening and concluding ones, and the insertion of three alternate arias in the body of the work. All of the music for this first revision survives.

In the early 1730s, Bach returned, in essence, to the 1724 sequence, but with a few modifications. In the intervening years, the "new" opening chorus, "O Mensch, bewein' dein SÜnde gross", became the concluding chorus of Part One of the St. Matthew Passion, and thus was no longer available for use in the St. John. Furthermore, ecclesiastical authorities in Leipzig had evidently objected to Bach's insertion of two intensely dramatic sequences from the Gospel according to St. Matthew into the St. John Passion, and he removed them. Bach provided no replacement for the first of these excised interpolations, the passage describing Peter's remorse at his denial of Christ; but for the second, the earthquake episode after the Crucifixion, he substituted an instrumental sinfonia that has not come down to us. The aria that he wrote to replace "Ach mein Sinn" in this third form of the St. John Passion also has not been preserved. Finally, this third version did not have the chorale that follows the concluding chorus in the first version.

In the very last years of his life, Bach returned to the St. John Passion and confirmed the sequence of the original version, restoring both the final chorale and the interpolations from the Gospel according to St. Matthew that he had omitted from the third version. On Good Friday, 1749, Bach gave a performance of the St. John Passion that turned out to be the last performance of a Passion setting that he himself directed, for the following year, he was too unwell to put one on, and he died on the 28th of July. This last performance was indeed a grand one; it called for a larger ensemble than he had used in previous productions, and it must have been a worthy valedictory to this important facet of Bach's musical life. This "final" version contains a puzzling doubling continuo part for "bassono grosso"; what kind of an instrument Bach intended this part to be played on is still a subject of controversy and uncertainty among Bach scholars. Of greater significance, however, at least to those who are interested in recordings of the St. John Passion, is Bach's reinstrumentation of the arioso "Betrachte meine Seel" and the following aria, "Erwäge". During the 25 years that had elapsed since the premiere performance, the lute, which Bach specifically calls for as a continuo instrument in the arioso, had become a rara avis indeed, and the two viole d'amore appear to have been unavailable, too. Accordingly, Bach rescored these numbers for two muted violins and harpsichord. One of the many ironies involving the St. John Passion on records is the infrequency with which one encounters the revised version of these numbers. Since the first complete recordings, the early version calling for the "obsolete" instruments has been the one preferred by all and sundry.

The St. John Passion was one of the first major compositions by Bach to be revived in the years following Mendelssohn's seminal performance of the St. Matthew Passion on Good Friday, 1829. The first "modern" performance of the St. John Passion was given by the Singakademie in Berlin 1833; the first American performance took place in 1888, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, under the baton of Dr. J. Fred Wolle, who twelve years later inaugurated the annual Bethlehem Bach Festival with what appears to have been the first complete performance of the B Minor Mass BWV 232 anywhere. --- Teri Noel Towe, bach-cantatas.com

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