J.S.Bach: St John Passion BWV.245

Golden Melodram is an opera collectors' label, presumably it ventured into Baroque choral music here because of the presence of several well-known operatic vocalists, notably bass Hans Hotter and tenor Peter Pears, in this performance. There are no texts. There are no liner notes -- just a track list. We learn that the recording was made live at a performance in Munich in 1960, but we don't know how or by whom. There are mistakes in the strings; there are a lot of coughing Bavarians in the auditorium. The recording does not just have bad sound, it has rock-fan-with-a-microphone-in-the-jeans sound. Perhaps the rock fans will be impressed to know that those of us on the classical side care enough about what we hear to sneak a recording device into the hall on occasion, too. The sound seems as if it's coming through earmuffs, and from time to time (the contralto aria "Von den Stricken meiner Sunden mich zu entbinden," CD 1, track 7, fares poorly) it drops out altogether. The problem is not in your audio equipment. Thus forewarned, however, you can expect a very fine St. John Passion of the old-fashioned German kind. The focus for Golden Melodram may have been on the singers, and Hotter, who sings the role of Jesus, has a thick, enveloping bass voice that, despite its built-for-Valhalla quality, has a lyrical expressiveness that works well in Baroque melody. Equally beautiful, however, is conductor Eugen Jochum's shaping of the choruses; mounting in power, they may inspire the listener to wonder why nobody does it this way anymore. The Chorus of the Bavarian Radio was one of West Germany's best-trained at this point, and its mighty alto section is a joy to listen to. The Passion settings were as close as Bach came to opera, and the contrast between his polyphonic sacred choruses in the Lutheran church tradition and his Italianate dramatic sense is memorably brought out by this performance. Despite the grade Z sound, it's worth checking out for those who love Bach's passions and miss the good old days when no one would think of performing Bach's choral music with one voice to a part.