Warner Classics: J.S. Bach — Markus-Passion / St Mark Passion BWV 247 — Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (2 CD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• UPC: 0089408031823
• Catalog Number: 2564 64507-7
• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Warner Classics (Apex series) / Erato
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
• Work: Markus-Passion (St Mark Passion), BWV 247 — reconstruction by Ton Koopman
• Conductor: Ton Koopman
• Release Year: 2013 (Warner Classics reissue; original recording ℗ 2000 Erato Disques)
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Baroque, sacred choral, Passion

Product Features

• Format: 2 × CD
• Total runtime: approx. 118 minutes (CD 1: 52'02 / CD 2: 66'21)
• Recording: DDD
• Label code: LC 04281
• Soloists: Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Bernhard Landauer (alto), Christoph Prégardien & Paul Agnew (tenors), Peter Kooy & Klaus Mertens (basses)
• Ensembles: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir; Boys of the Sakramentskoor Breda
• Made in the EU
• Condition: New / Factory sealed

Overview

Bach's St Mark Passion is one of music's great ghosts. Composed for Good Friday 1731 in Leipzig, the score itself vanished — only the libretto and a handful of borrowed movements survived. What you hear on this recording is Ton Koopman's act of scholarly reconstruction, rebuilding the Passion from the texts Bach set and the music he is known to have reused, so the work can live again as a coherent whole.

Koopman leads the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir on period instruments, with a soloist lineup that reads like a roll call of Baroque specialists — Christoph Prégardien and Paul Agnew sharing the tenor lines, Peter Kooy and Klaus Mertens on bass, Sibylla Rubens and Bernhard Landauer above. The young voices of the Sakramentskoor Breda add a particular brightness to the chorales.

The set splits the Passion across its two liturgical halves: Vor der Predigt (before the sermon) on the first disc, Nach der Predigt (after the sermon) on the second — the way it would have framed a Good Friday service. Originally issued by Erato in 2000 and reissued here in Warner Classics' budget-friendly Apex line, it brings a serious, historically grounded reading within easy reach.

Interesting Facts

• The original St Mark Passion was performed in Leipzig on 23 March 1731, but Bach's full score was lost; reconstructions rely on the surviving printed libretto by Picander.
• Much of the music is believed to be "parodied" — reused by Bach from other works, notably the Trauer-Ode (BWV 198), a technique common in his sacred output.
• Ton Koopman, born 1944 in Zwolle, founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and is one of the leading figures of the historically informed performance movement.
• Christoph Prégardien and Paul Agnew are both renowned Evangelists in Bach's Passions, making their pairing here a notable draw for collectors.
• The Apex series was Warner/Erato's mid-price imprint created to keep significant recordings affordable and in circulation.

Track Listing

• CD 1 — Vor der Predigt (Before the Sermon): tracks 1–29, total 52'02
• CD 2 — Nach der Predigt (After the Sermon): tracks 1–38, total 66'21

Publishers

Recording ℗ 2000 Erato Disques, Warner Music UK Ltd. Reissue © 2013 Warner Classics, Warner Music UK Ltd. — a Warner Music Group company. Made in the EU.

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