David Stewart wrote:

>Need recommendations, I don't have this yet and I heard the wonderfully
>dramatic opening on a Hannsler (sp?) classics catalogue sampler.  An all
>male rendition would be preferable...

I'd say there are two Matthew's which are esssential to start with:
Klemperer's classic recording and Gardiner's whose version is HIP, as it
is called (Historically Informned Performance).  Klemperer's Bach is based
on a nineteenth centruy tradition which of course evolved in the course
of time and is a rare masterwork, Gardiner's is a good example of the
sophisticated use of period instruments (much more so than Harnoncourt's
which was recorded twenty years earlier and is worthwhile listening to when
you will have become an addict ;) and studying original scores based on
what one feels might have been the *original intention*.  Whether that's
true is the subject of much debate and of course *no* 20th century
performance can be *authentic* as we can't detach ourselves from our time
and standards (whatever they are, that is our blind spot).  But Gardiner's
(along with others) is a very good Matthew indeed.  Some might prefer
Herreweghe or Koopman or whichever but this seems more a matter of taste
than enything else.  Suzuki hasn't recorded a Matthew yet AFAIK, but St.
John is now released.

Philip