John Eliot Gardiner, together with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, adds a new reading of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion to his remarkable legacy of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. Boasting a team of exceptional young soloists and choral singing hallmarked by intense drama, expressive nuance and spellbinding musicianship, the album was recorded in the ornate surroundings of Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre on Good Friday 2021.

The music is in turns evocative, stirring, exultant and profoundly moving. It forces the listener to contemplate the complexities of the Passion story. Regardless of one’s religious view, it captures the listener’s attention from beginning to end.