JS BACH
St John Passion
Sophie Bevan (soprano), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), James Gilchrist, Ed Lyon (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Neal Davies (bass); Choir of King’s College, Cambridge; Academy of Ancient Music/stephen Cleobury
King’s College KGS 0018 (hybrid CD/SACD) 109:23 mins (2 discs)
It’s roughly a decade since the choir of King’s College, Cambridge last released an account of Bach’s 1724
St John Passion. More recently they recorded its 1725 reconfiguration; this one, reverting to the original version and enjoying the benefits of hybrid SACD, preserves live performances given as part of last year’s Easter at King’s Festival. With alumnus James Gilchrist as a supple Evangelist, not to mention trenchant instrumental support from the Cambridge-based Academy of Ancient Music, it’s something of a family affair.
A choir comprising young male singers with boy sopranos is, of course, exactly what Bach had at his disposal in Leipzig where the St John Passion was first heard, but it doesn’t necessarily give director Stephen Cleobury a head start over rival versions. A certain King’s smoothness sometimes softens the visceral qualities of the unfolding drama, and the chorales can sound like hymn interludes rather than pertinent theological commentary. For the arias, however, Cleobury has assembled an unassailable team of soloists, whose powerful insights gild Neal Davies’s Jesus, a characterisation of immense presence and authority. Paul Riley performance could be anything but ‘dramatic’; Bach has hardwired drama into the work’s DNA. But apparently the ‘visionary concept’ included the protagonists singing their reported speech directly to each other (off copy), and members of the choir mingling among the audience for the crowd scenes. Perhaps a
DVD rather than CD release might have been appropriate, although a snatch of video on the ensemble’s website suggests something decidedly less ambitious than Peter Sellars’s ‘ritualisation’ of the John and Matthew Passions for Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Judged purely as an audio experience, Jeannette Sorrell’s direction certainly produces a lively account, her fleet tempos rarely sounding rushed, even if they can momentarily leave singers challenged. And the singing is the chief glory of the set: Nicholas Phan is a personable Evangelist who also negotiates the jagged perils of ‘Ach, mein Sinn’ with no nonsense, while Jesse Blumberg’s Jesus is quietly authoritative. Soprano Amanda Forsythe and baritone Christian Immler acquit themselves with distinction in the arias, and the 20-plus chorus is impeccably disciplined and incisive.
The opening ‘Herr, unser Herrscher’, however, flags up a few intrusive stylistic mannerisms. Sorrell is not averse to indulgent rallentandos; and the dynamic shading can be a touch overmanicured. John Eliot Gardiner’s live 2011 release with similar choral forces lives in the moment more vividly; while, for the ultimate ‘ visionary concept’, the Dunedin Consort’s liturgical reconstruction remains revelatory. Paul Riley