Accentus - Concerto Köln

While bowing to the constraints of the genre that dictate that music played on Good Friday « does not seem to come from a theatre but should encourage pious devotion in those who are listening » (these were the terms imposed on the composer by the Leipzig authorities in 1723), Bach nevertheless composed a work of remarkable dramatic intensity with the St John Passion. Throughout the piece, choirs are followed by interventions from the Evangelist, the narrator of the drama, various airs and crowd scenes, using the musical resources of the soloists, the choir and the orchestra in all of its configurations. A profoundly human masterpiece, far superior to the work of his contemporaries, this, the first of Bach's Passions is to be performed by accentus and the Concerto Köln, whose work the Aix-en-Provence audience had the chance to hear in 2011 in the Bach repertoire. The 32 singers in accentus, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2012, have built their reputation by defending the repertoire for a capella voices. But they are also enthusiastic in their collaborations with their instrument-playing colleagues like the Concerto Köln, with whom they have an ongoing relationship: evident on their 2010 CD on Naïve, entitled Nuit sacrée. They specialise in the
music of the 17th and 18th centuries that they perform using historical instruments with such verve and accuracy that with Bach, they are totally in their element.

This St John Passion will be the first of a series of Passions to be performed every year at the Easter Festival.