Gramophone Magazine
April 2022
Recording of the Month

Julian Prégardien (Evangelist), Stéphane Degout (Christus), Sabine Devieilhe & Hana Blažiková (sopranos), Lucile Richardot (mezzo), Tim Mead (countertenor), Reinoud Van Mechelen & Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenors), Christian Immler (bass-baritone)

Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon

Bach and Pygmalion: the story of a passion linking the genius of the Thomaskantor to a reflection on inner drama and constantly renewed vocality.

This Matthäus Passion marks a major stage in this fifteen- year companionship and testifies to the culmination of their work on Bach, characterised by its precision and humility.

Read through the prism of a tragedy in five acts, at once intimate and theatrical, human and metaphysical, the Passion is revealed here in a new light: as a deeply moving epic exploring the very heart of Lutheran spirituality.

"With its glowing inner vitality and penetrating observations, this is a Passion that makes a very definite statement about what this work can communicate in our times." - Gramophone Magazine, April 2022.