Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London.

"If ever a composer showed polyphony in its greatest strength and employed the most hidden secrets of harmony with the most skilled artistry, it was certainly our late lamented Bach." The judgement of one of Bach's sons is marvellously confirmed in this most tautly dramatic and compelling of Passion settings. Rich in invention, it rushes onward to the momentous climax of the death of Christ.

Paul Agnew (tenor), Sanford Sylvan (baritone), Ruth Ziesak (soprano), Michael Chance (countertenor), Toby Spence (tenor), Gerald Finley (bass-baritone), Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, St James's Baroque Players, conductor Ivor Bolton

Bach St John Passion, BWV245 (Part 1)

8.15 Twenty Minutes: Poetry Proms
Jo Shapcott, poet-in-residence at the Proms, introduces this evening's readings from the Serpentine Gallery by Jackie Kay and David Constantine, including new work on one of this year's Proms themes - belief.

8.35 Bach St John Passion (Part 2)