Ton Koopman already had a (much better) performance of the St Matthew Passion to his name, which is why this new release (recorded live in the St. Joriskerk in Amersfoort, 2005) looks a bit like the umpteenth performance next to many other routine performances. . Most of them even sound so flat that it seems as if you are not listening to passion music by Bach, but to table music by Telemann. And
… that for the most important Bach specialist that our country currently knows, it may be wrong. The CD release on the Antoine Marchand label is even faster than the older ones: 2 CDs compared to the 3 CDs of the Erato box from 1993. 'The new version (...) starts at such a fast pace that the expression there rather suffers. But gradually the build-up becomes more emotional, 'says Kasper Jansen in the NRC. (HJ)more
