Bach: St John Passion CD review – an intense, full-throttle account

Les Musiciens du Louvre/Minkowski(Erato)Conductor Marc Minkowski describes Bach’s John Passion as “the most violent, vivid and dramatic score” of the early 18th century, so it’s not surprising that violence and drama are what we get from his excellent Grenoble-based period band Les Musiciens du Louvre. This passion is brutal from the start: bass notes in the opening chorus are full of threat, a contrabassoon added for extra thud. But it’s also punctuated with sudden