J.S. Bach’s dramatic and powerful setting of the St John Passion was first performed in Leipzig in 1724 and was revived repeatedly throughout his career; he left a major revision unfinished at his death. The normal version used today is an unsatisfactory compromise that Bach never performed, combining the revised numbers with the original 1724 text. This performance revives the rarely heard 1725 version, performed at the Festival in 2000. It begins with the beautiful setting of ‘O Mensch, bewein’, later used in the St Matthew Passion, and has a number of unfamiliar numbers, including ‘Jesu deine Passion’, a remarkable bass aria with a chorale commentary, and the splendid tenor aria ‘Zerschmettert mich’. Instead of a simple final chorale the passion ends with a concerted setting of ‘Christe, du Lamm Gottes’, the German Agnus Dei.

As befits this year’s anniversary theme, the solo singers in this performance have long been associated with the Festival and are leading early music specialists. Peter Holman follows Bach’s own practice in using the same singers to portray the Evangelist and Christus as well as singing the arias for their voices and by directing a small-scale performance from the keyboard. For 25 years Peter has combined directing the Festival with a busy performing career and work as a leading academic; his latest book, Life after Death: the Viola da Gamba in Britain from Purcell to Dolmetsch, was published in 2010 to great acclaim.