Album: Bach , Matthew Passion – Dunedin Consort/Butt, (Linn)

John Butt's new recording of the 'Matthew Passion' with the Dunedin Consort joins Paul McCreesh's 2003 recording with the Gabrieli Consort as one of the finest available one-voice-per-part Bach performances.

Aside from Butt's use of Bach's last edition, where the second organ is replaced by a harpsichord, the differences are tonal. Where McCreesh's 'Passion' is outraged by the horror, Butt favours a more reflective tone of sorrow. His choruses are clear in texture and sensitively shaped, but with the exception of Matthew Brook's powerful Jesus, the singers are out-gunned by McCreesh's starry line-up.