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Best Bach St. Matthews Passion

My wife and I will be attending a performance of this at Valparaiso University with Helmuth Rilling as guest conductor. Do any of you have any recommendations of good performances and/or recordings of this piece? Thanks, Doug
doug28450
pls1
432 posts
 
There are many excellent recordings of this piece. I agree with Rcprince that Rilling is pretty good but not the best. The piece is so rich and complex that I think it is difficult to list a "best". Those that I have heard and would recommend would be as follows (sort of in order): Gardiner, Richter, Herreweghe, Koopman, Leonhardt, Harnoncourt.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Helmuth Rilling is one the the foremost Bach specialist in the world today. Search out a recording by him. There is a complete recording with the Stutrgart Bach Collegium on the Hanssler Label. You know they will pronounce the German correctly. There is also an older shorted version to one CD that has just the Arias and Choruses. Same group $7.99 ---
gregm
3,021 posts
 
Hello Doug, for St. Matthew I strongly recommend the O. Klemperer version on EMI. (In the latest EMI a.r.t. version you also get good sound.) IMO this is a "universal" performance. For a more "germanic" you could consider Scherchen.
But... a live performance is an experience. Hope you enjoy it.
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