It’s rare to hear Bach’s St. John Passion, and a joy to hear it well done. Seattle Pro Musica came through in spades Sunday night, the second of two performances at St. James Cathedral. (Their next program arrives May 19 and 20, Resonance: Venetian Masters, also at St. James.)
The 66-member chorus has grown from strength to strength under founding conductor Karen P. Thomas. The group is well worth hearing whatever it is singing, but particularly so when it’s the performance of a big work we don’t often have a chance to hear live.
St. James is not necessarily the best place to hear this, however. The ambiance is right, but the long reverberation of its acoustics made much of the detail somewhat muffled as heard from my seat near the altar in the western part of the cathedral. The choir, orchestra, and soloists performed at the extreme east end just in front of the organ pipes. Runs were fuzzy to the ear, and much of the interweaving lines in orchestra and choir couldn’t be clearly delineated, yet it was not the fault of the singers or musicians.
The two main protagonists in this Passion are the chorus and the Evangelist. Tenor Wesley Rogers told the Passion story with dramatic impact in his many recitatives, his strong, clear voice seemingly effortless to the very end well over two hours later, his high notes clarion and easy.
The choir, furthering the story in the choruses of a steamed-up mob frankly out for vengeance, and commenting in totally different mode in the lovely chorales, sang equally well, expressively, in tune and together.
Charles Robert Stephens used his weighty baritone to good effect in Jesus’ short utterances, while choir member Charles Robert Austin sang Pilate authoritatively with an equally weighty bass.
Pro Musica brought in several other soloists for the arias and ariosos, notably the fine countertenor Joseph Schlesinger, and with nice work from soprano Madeline Bersamina and baritone Jacob William Herbert. Tenor James Brown appeared either to be having an off night or else recovering from an infection. His upper notes sounded weak and stretched, and all his voice unsupported, though he improved somewhat towards the end.
The small orchestra of mostly Baroque instrumentalists maintained good balance with the singers while obbligato passages from oboes, flutes, or violins complemented soloists, and continuo from harpsichord, organ, viola da gamba, and bassoon supported them.
Thomas held it all together. She did a superb job of training the choir and shaping the choruses and chorales, balancing the orchestra, and pacing the whole while keeping the story moving.
