St. John Passion

The tragedy begins with the first note. Above a pounding bass and restlessly driving strings, oboes and flutes spiral upward in painful dissonances. It is music as if a tormented soul were writhing in its agony. When the choir joins in at the climax of this monumental build-up, it sounds like a scream that is both suffering and redemption. Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion: a stroke of genius whose harsh drama still thrills and moves us to...