The Dunedin Consort, under the direction of John Butt, follows its award-winning recording of the Messiah with J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion. This recording cements the Dunedin Consort's reputation as a group with particular expertise in Baroque music and performance practice. The Dunedin Consort has established a reputation for performing familiar works from the Baroque era in ways which shed fresh light on the original performance: this new recording presents the Matthew Passion for the first time with Bach's final revisions of scoring, as performed around 1742 (its most familiar form is the 1736 version).

This recording of J.S. Bach's John Passion gives listeners a refreshing outlook, shining a new light into one of the best known pieces of the choral repertoire. John Butt recreates the Good Friday vesper liturgy of a passion performance during Bach's time at Leipzig; in addition to the Dunedin Consort performance of Bach's composition, this recording features music from an original Leipzig hymn book with works by Jacob Händl, J. H. Schein and J. Crüger performed by a congregational choir and the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir. John Butt takes centre stage to perform organ chorale preludes by Bach and Schütz on the Collins organ at Greyfriar's Kirk in Edinburgh, where the recording took place.