Bent Sørensen: St Matthew Passion (SACD)

For the "Oslo International Church Music Festival" 2020, Bent Sørensen was commissioned to compose a new St. Matthew Passion. Sørensen, one of Northern Europe's most performed and celebrated composers, winner of the 2018 Grawemeyer Award for Music, had to wait a year for the then streamed premiere of his work due to the pandemic. The libretto by Jakob Holtze uses texts from the Gospels of Matthew and John as well as poetry by six authors. His work, Sørensen says, is not only about Jesus' declaration of love for humanity through the crucifixion and resurrection, but also about a very simple, plain love. "The passion for the people we love."