Home listening - Bach, Haydn, Mozart and more

The Guardian 0

Energy abounds in new releases from Philippe Herreweghe and Giovanni Antonini, plus Iván Fischer and the OAE live on BBC Sounds

• In nearly half a century since the Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe began performing Bach’s St John Passion (in the earliest performances he shared the direction, conducting the choruses while Ton Koopman directed the arias), he has broadened his repertory vastly. On the evidence of a new recording (Phi), this has only served to deepen and tighten his response to Bach’s 1724 masterpiece. From the pounding, grinding opening chorus onwards, this is a completely gripping picture of the Passion story. The rising chromatic choruses of part two, as the crowd calls for crucifixion, are absolutely electrifying, while the chorales, mostly done quietly and simply, are moments of wistful personal reflection amid the tumult.

One shock to a purist early-music approach will be the use of the eloquent tenor Maximilian Schmitt as a thoroughly operatic Evangelist, but he matches well the dramatic approach of the whole. Soprano Dorothee Mields is unsurpassed in Zerfliesse, mein Herze, while Herreweghe’s choir Collegium Vocale Gent, replenished over the years, is ever fresh and precise.