Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión Según San Marcos is almost a quarter-century old now – it was commissioned as one of four new passions in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death – but its treatment of the gospel still comes as a shock. A riot of rhythm and colour, interweaving a varied of Latin American musical styles and cultural traditions, this is Christ’s suffering not as solemn biblical narrative but as a here-and-now human crisis: one told, retold, and re-enacted by the masses in language drawn from Spanish vernacular gospel pamphlets sold on street corners.
Paired for the Edinburgh international festival’s opening weekend with its progenitor, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, this one-off performance was a joint venture on an epic scale, bringing together the remarkable Schola Cantorum de Venezuela – who premiered the work and have sung in every performance since – with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, members of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a set of specialist (and indefatigable) percussionists, and a varied array of jazz, classical and traditional vocalists and dancers.
