Vaughan Williams conducts Bach

 

BACH 

St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 

Tenor [Evangelist]: Eric Greene; Bass [Jesus]: Gordon Clinton; Soprano: Pauline Brockless; Contralto: Nancy Evans; Tenor: Wilfred Brown; Bass-Baritone: John Carol Case

Eric Gritton, piano - Dr. William Cole, organ (electric).

Leith Hill Music Festival Chorus & Orchestra

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Mar 5, 1958 - Recorded at Dorking Halls, Leith Hill, England.

Many numbers omitted, sung in english, a famous and admired composer but not a "great" conductor in the sense commonly given to this appellation, "old fashioned" and anti-philological (piano and electric organ for the continuo!), an obscure orchestra and singers certainly not as famous as many who recorded Bach's masterpiece... everything seems to suggest that we are in front of something "avoidable": a curiosity, at best, due to the prestige of RVW. It is just the opposite. Like the older Mengelberg recording, this one has something magnetic, absolutely unique and unrepeatable. Published on 4 LPs, then on 2 CD Pearl out of print. 

FLAC - Scans with tracklist & infos