Aldeburgh Festival: Polyphony (Concert Review - The Independent, 2007)

Members of the audience who arrived with cushions, to counter the unforgiving Maltings seats, must have felt quietly satisfied with themselves upon discovering that this performance of St John Passion was to be given without an interval. In the event, they needn't have bothered: such was the power and drama of the interpretation, any thoughts of one's own bodily sufferings were completely banished.

Stephen Layton, conducting his own choir, Polyphony, and the Academy of Ancient Music, eschewed the over-reverent approach that can make performances of the Passions something of an endurance test. Instead, Bach's masterpiece was presented as a rattling good drama, in which the tension never dropped for a moment.

It helped, of course, that he had such top-notch performers at his disposal. James Gilchrist is one of the most sought-after Evangelists on the international scene today, and hearing his passionately communicative account here, it's not difficult to see why. Gilchrist was in glorious voice and well supported by James Rutherford's robust Christus and Thomas Guthrie's nicely characterised if somewhat lightweight Pilate. However, Gilchrist dominated the performance and received a rapturous ovation.

Of the other soloists, it was the upper voices who made the better impression. Sounding as fresh-voiced as ever, Emma Kirkby seemed curiously uninvolved in her first aria, yet delivered an almost painfully vivid account of "Zerfliesse, Mein Herze", a wonderful demonstration of the interpreter's art, while the vibrant contribution of the counter-tenor Iestyn Davies will only have added to his rising reputation.

The 26 voices of Polyphony represented a sensible compromise between the huge forces of "traditional" performances and the one voice to a part of the hair-shirt brigade. Firm-toned throughout, they responded readily to Layton's demands, whether in the dramatic interjections or the more contemplative passages. They were well supported by the AAM, for whom this score must be meat and drink, yet they too appeared to be caught up in the overall spirit of commitment, none more so than the ebullient Joseph Crouch, playing the all-important cello continuo.

If recently published statistics are to be believed, it is unlikely whether more than a fraction of the audience could be classed as practising Christians, yet such was the power of this performance, many others were patently moved by the message of Bach's great work. Even those without cushions.

Stuart Hogg