Submitted by Teri Noel Towe, Mar 18, 2008 09:55

Conspicuously absent from the list of large scaled performances on modern instruments are those of Herbert von Karajan (The recording of the performance Karajan conducted in Vienna in 1950, with Kathleen Ferrier among the soloists and the unsurpassed Walther Ludwig as the Evangelist, truly is a "desert island" account.), Eugen Jochum, Fritz Lehmann, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Eberhard Mauersberger, Mogens Woldike, and Serge Koussevitzky, whose 1937 recording is the first complete recording of the SMP.

The Casals performance, which dates from 1963, also is in English, and it features the Cleveland Orchestra chorus, prepared by Robert Shaw, and William Warfield as Jesus. I join Mr. Ivry in agitating for its commercial release. Also worthy of commercial release is the recording of a 1950 concert performance by the Cantata Singers, conducted by one of the great Bach scholars of yore, Arthur Mendel. This performance also features William Warfield, who sings the bass arias as well as Jesus.

Finally, has Good Friday ever fallen on the anniversary of Bach's birth before?

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