JS Bach's oratorio is presented by the Academy of Ancient Music and Choir of the AAM directed by harpsichordist Richard Egarr, with James Gilchrist (Evangelist), Matthew Rose (Christ), Ashley Riches (Pilate), Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Kennedy (tenor) and Christopher Purves (bass).
(Composed for the 1724 Good Friday Vespers service, Bach's masterpiece is performed here in its original version. The piece was written soon after Bach's arrival as Kantor at Leipzig's Nikolaikirche. Keen to impress a new congregation, he produced a setting of the age-old passion story which overshadowed almost every piece of liturgical music the world had previously known.)