A peerless specialist of the music of Bach, Masaaki Suzuki joins the OSM to conduct the stirring St John Passion. In the hands of the composer, the sacred text is transformed through the music’s accentuation of its tragic character. The Evangelist’s account, suffused with an ardent expressivity, is the common thread of a drama interspersed with contemplative arias. The meditative chorales entrusted to the choir provide the work with its structure, imparting it with a timeless, universal dimension.