BACH: St John Passion - Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens de Louvre (2 CDs)

Colin Balzer (tenor), Christian Immler (bass), Felix Speer (bass), Ditte Andersen (soprano), Valerio Contaldo (tenor), Lenneke Ruiten (soprano), Lothar Odinius (tenor), Delphine Galou (contralto), David Hansen (contralto)
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski

The foundations of Marc Minkowski’s career lie in Baroque music, and he has enjoyed a long relationship with Warner Classics, but this Johannes-Passion (St John Passion) is his first Bach for the label. The work’s terse drama – here presented through just nine singers – is ideally suited to both his scrupulous musicianship and his keen sense of theatre. The French conductor describes Bach’s great masterpieces as “a journey you have to prepare for meticulously, over a long period of time … You come back from it like an explorer comes back from Everest or the Moon – transformed.”