Koor & Orkest Collegium Vocale Gent olv. Philippe Herreweghe

Has the Matthew Passion already yielded all its secrets? Not when a world authority on the genre is the musical director and works with leading musicians and soloists. In this magnum opus, Bach pulls out all the stops. The result is a brilliant balancing act between a compelling narrative, pious reflection and a musical spectacular. An unsurpassed tour de force in the history of Western music. It is Bach's intelligent adaptation of the Historia tradition, combined with meditative, highly expressive music and simple but eloquent chorales. The way he forges all this into a cycle, the instrumentation and the choral grouping, the musical sketches of the characters and the writing of the arias is matchless. Bach's balm for the soul!