Review of Bach's
St Matthew Passion at
Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Bach's St Matthew Passion
at Symphony Hall, Birmingham (April 2006)
".. more than a mere performance.."

Birmingham Bach Choir's annual Good Friday presentation of the St Matthew Passion at Symphony Hall has developed over the years into something more than a mere performance. It is not too fanciful to suggest that everyone present comes away with feeling part of a shared sacrament. Even non-believers can respond to this depiction of the sufferings of such a good man, and mine weren't the only eyes with tears. Credit for this sense of oneness lies in the musical results Paul Spicer, such a musicianly and self-effacing conductor, draws from his forces, achieving in persuasive and controlled manner all the unrelenting emotionalism of Bach's vast score. Structure and narrative development were well-paced on Friday, though the pauses between numbers were perhaps a little too long (the great final chorus, for example, should have flowed in naturally from the soloists' last sorrowing contribution).