Abstract

Music

Bach's St. John Passion is beautifully sung by the Robert Shaw Chorale, Collegiate Chorale, and soloists conducted by Shaw. The performance is reproduced not only with beauty of sound but with admirable balance and clarity, except in one instance where the chorus can't be heard clearly behind the solo bass. After the beautiful music by Vivaldi, the unfamiliar oratorio "Juditha Triumphans" is disappointingly uninteresting; but there is more interesting life in his "Dixit." Both works are excellently performed by Italian soloists, chorus, and orchestra under Angelo Ephrikian's direction. The same musicians give equally good performances of a group of fine pieces by Monteverdi: "Laudate Dominum," "Ut Queant,' "Beatus Vir," and an unidentified work that follows "Beatus Vir."