Audio transcription

Welcome to our Passion Audio Tour!

 My name is Christian Mücke and I am a tenor of RIAS Kammerchor Berlin. I am also an avid visitor of Gemäldegalerie – to me the European museum with the most beautiful collection of paintings of the 15th and 16th century.

 It has been an absolute pleasure to choose twelve wonderful paintings at Gemäldegalerie that feature the Passion of Christ. As a tenor and evangelist I am well acquainted with the Gospel texts that inspired both the paintings and compositions.

 Our audio guide aims to present or bring back to mind the impressive visual programme of the Passion paintings at Gemäldegalerie, and we also want to explain and make it emotionally accessible.

 Our key feature in this audio guide is the choir music by RIAS Kammerchor. With great care, our artistic director Justin Doyle has chosen a suitable piece of choir music for each painting and recorded it with us for this audio tour – music from the Gregorian choral to contemporary compositions.

 Perhaps you’re asking yourself, whether a combination of music and painting makes any sense? Yes, absolutely! The paintings you will see and the music you will hear haven’t been created for the museum or the concert hall, but for the service in church. Both painters and composers want to elevate the believers out of their everyday and show them glimpses of eternity and the divine – and both arts reinforce each other in this task.

 During your tour you will be accompanied by acclaimed experts: Dagmar Hirschfelder, director of Gemäldegalerie, curators Stephan Kemperdick and Neville Rowley, as well as Gregor Meyer, artistic assistant at RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Choir. They are pointing out particularly interesting details of the works.

 A final suggestion for you: Take a folding chair on your audio tour, which will allow you to see the paintings and listen to the music comfortably and peacefully. You’ll find the folding chairs between rooms I and II.

 Now I’d like to bid farewell – and wish you an inspiring tour in the hope that our music will bestow a deepening dimension on your visual experience.