Best Bach St. Matthews Passion

Hello Doug, for St. Matthew I strongly recommend the O. Klemperer version on EMI. (In the latest EMI a.r.t. version you also get good sound.) IMO this is a "universal" performance. For a more "germanic" you could consider Scherchen.
But... a live performance is an experience. Hope you enjoy it.

Helmuth Rilling is one the the foremost Bach specialist in the world today. Search out a recording by him. There is a complete recording with the Stutrgart Bach Collegium on the Hanssler Label. You know they will pronounce the German correctly. There is also an older shorted version to one CD that has just the Arias and Choruses. Same group $7.99 ---

There are many excellent recordings of this piece. I agree with Rcprince that Rilling is pretty good but not the best. The piece is so rich and complex that I think it is difficult to list a "best". Those that I have heard and would recommend would be as follows (sort of in order): Gardiner, Richter, Herreweghe, Koopman, Leonhardt, Harnoncourt.

There is an excellent recent Harmonia Mundi recording of this work (Herrewghe/Collegium Vocale Gent), typically fine HM sound and an excellent performance, which has a lot of extras with it -- a CD-ROM, a booklet, etc. Another highly regarded one is by John Elliot Gardiner on the Archiv label. If you enjoy the performance you attend (Rilling is pretty good, from his other Bach discs I have) you might be interested in looking for his recordings of the work on Hanssler and Sony Classics (Hanssler is probably a better recording). And I do hope you enjoy the performance at Valparaiso!

Hello Doug, you may want to have a look at www.jsbach.org and see if they list one by Neville Marriner as I think he did a very good recording of this piece, regards, Richard