Hessenberg, Kurt: Lukas-Passion

The Frankfurt composer and professor of composition Kurt Hessenberg (1908-1994), together with Ernst Pepping and Hugo Distler, ranks among the most important representatives of Protestant church music in the twentieth century. 'Lukas-Passion' was composed in 1977 at the suggestion of Helmuth Rilling and performed for the first time in 1978 at the Frankfurt Dreikönigskirche by the Frankfurt Kantorei and Bach Collegium Frankfurt under the direction of Rilling. In this great Passion, Hessenberg's tonal language is extremely gripping – his sense both of drama and of expressive passages causes a deep emotion which cannot be resisted. The music of Passion according to St. Luke is one of Hessenberg's most important sacred works.