“There is nothing like it in all music,” Leonard Bernstein said of the eruptive moment in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion when the main choir splits into two and is accented by a third, releasing a torrent of layered sound. The story is taken from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 26 and 27, tracking the plot against Jesus, and his death and burial. Bach wrote it in the 1720s, for multiple soloists, double orchestra, double choir, organ. The words are in German, written by a poet of the time who went by the name Picander, and Bach prepared it for a church service—and for the ages. Bach wrote for church every Sunday. His church was the luckiest church that ever was. This enormous production is pretty much the biggest thing on this winter’s season. (Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 8 pm, Feb 21–22, 215-4800, www.seattlesymphony.org) JEN GRAVES Robert Wade