Bach : Passion selon Saint Jean. Huggett.

   in Early Music Today (Sep, 2012)
Monica Huggett directs a smoothly paced performance of Bach’s original 1724 version of his Johannes-Passion. She omits the flutes which, according to recent research by Pieter Dirksen, were not available in Leipzig at the time, and opts for relatively small forces (six solo vocalists, six ripienists and 14 instrumentalists), a number with which, she says, she feels able to honour both ‘the grandeur of the choruses’ and the ‘chamber-like quality of the arias’. The resulting sound is appealingly trim and fleet, with Charles Daniels presenting an eloquent Evangelist and the arias both sung and played with sensitivity. Huggett handles the reflective aspects of Bach’s musical retelling of the crucifixion with a …