Prom 48 (23.08.20) Bach: St Matthew Passion

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

BBC Proms: Phillipe Herreweghe’s expressive but fleet-footed Bach won praise at his Proms debut in 1996. Two years later, in this highlight from the archives, he turned to one of the peaks of Bach’s output: the telling of Matthew’s version of the Passion with the narration of Christ’s mission, his political fates, and our response in the meditative music of arias, all mingled to create one of the most original music dramas of any age. Ian Bostridge, then near the start of his career sings the role of the Evangelist.


Bach: St Matthew Passion

Ian Bostridge (Evangelist)
Sibylla Rubens (soprano)
Andreas Scholl (counter-tenor)
Werner Güra (tenor)
Dietrich Henschel (bass)
Elisabeth Hermans (soprano)
Susan Hamilton (soprano)
Franz-Josef Selig (bass)
Frits Vanhule (bass)
Dominik Wörner (bass)
Schola Cantorum Cantate Domino
Chorus and Orchestra of Collegium Vocale Ghent

(From the BBC Proms 1998, 23 August)

[bluestateprommer]

Finally listened to this 1998 JSB Prom, another 1st time listen. Very, very fine performance, granted that I'm not all that knowledgeable about the work. It was also charming to hear Andreas Scholl, as quarantine intermission guest with Petroc (recorded before the re-broadcast), disarmingly admit that he had no specific memories of this Prom. But AS spoke very highly of working with Phillipe Herreweghe, and also of the general atmosphere of the RAH and the Proms audience. His comments are well worth hearing, starting at about 1:10:40 into the iPlayer relay.