Today we take our first dive into the St. John Passion.  In the very first measure of music, the strikingly twisted sounds of the oboes in harsh dissonances calls to mind the pain and anguish of the Passion story.  The scene is set for Good Friday.

Bach's St. John Passion, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMf9XDQBAaI

Article on the St. John Passion by Alex Ross (quoted in this episode from 0:41 - 1:49):

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/02/bachs-holy-dread

IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) page for Bach's St. John Passion free public domain scores, including scans of Bach's original manuscript:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Johannespassion,_BWV_245_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian)