St John Passion - Bach

Bach's word by word setting of two chapters from St John's gospel, in Luther's translation, was designed to give a musical dimension to the service of vespers on Good Friday. The words would have been known by heart to the congregation and so would the tunes of the 11 chorales, used by Bach to take the part of hymns in the service.

The performance "was seen as a vehicle of preaching rather than as a musical event." Between the two parts of the Passion there would have been, not an interval, but a sermon lasting an hour. Add to that the 10 elaborate arias in which Bach speaks for the individual who strives to win free from sin and one must envy the stamina of the Leipzig congregation of 1724.

For us the Passion is, for the most part, a "musical event", and all the more so because it is in a foreign tongue. And on this occasion the music was well served. Robin Tritschler, as the Evangelist, sang his lengthy recitatives with elegant control, carefully following Bach's colouring of the phrases. Truly dramatic singing came from John Milne, as Christus culminating in his "Es ist vollbracht".

He also sang the bass arias: this was dramatically at odds with the plan of the work, but the singing was so good that one could hardly object. The other solo singers brought fluency and commitment to their parts and the important role of Pilate was sung with Roman stoicism.

The choir showed great fervour in the chorales but a little more edge in the crowd scenes would have helped the drama. The Orchestra of St Cecilia, 16 strong including the continuo section, made a good strong sound, and the continuo during the recitatives was both lyrical and discreet.

Blanaid Murphy's conception of the work had plenty of punch, but at times I wondered if a little more tenderness might not have been shown in the interpretation. Certainly the music was never allowed to drag and the final chorus and chorale reached the right pitch of peace and joy.