Some believe that the narrator of Bach’s St John Passion – the tenor who sings the Evangelist, the voice of the gospel-writer himself – is telling the story as one who witnessed the events firsthand; some say that’s impossible. But the urgency that the conductor Peter Whelan drew from the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in this performance was certainly something to reinforce the idea.
Perhaps drawing on his operatic experience, Whelan’s feel for the music’s drama was evident from the opening moments, with the violins digging deep into their turbulent, restless accompaniment. The scene having been set, when this music returned later in the same movement it was more reserved, which built the tension even further. This was typical of a performance that played up the almost cinematic aspects of the work – the way in which Bach takes us directly into the midst of the courtroom and then cuts away for a moment of contemplation in an aria or chorale.
