John Passion - Dunedin Consort - The Big Issue

John Butt, director of the Edinburgh-based Dunedin Consort and a world-renowned Bach scholar, has put together a fascinating remake of the full 1724 service. He adds organ preludes, motets and even a sermon, using a lay congregational choir to contrast the Dunedin singers. The impact is huge. The architecture, emotion and implication of Bach's music all change.

It's not that I'd always want to hear it performed with these extra gubbins (neither, he told me, would Butt) however this ground-breaking recording offers a new way of understanding Bach's Passion. The performance ain't bad either: Dunedin's forces are typically streamlined, and sing with art and pathos.