Bach - St John Passion:THE CHURCH of St Nicholas of Myra on Dublin's Francis Street is a sheer pleasure as a visual space. For concert use, though, it's got the physical discomforts that go hand in hand with music in churches, as well as an acoustic that seems tricky at the best of times.
It seems easy to fill with sound, but altogether more problematic when it comes to clarity of musical communication.
This performance of Bach's St John Passion was the second I have listened to in as many weeks. What Mark Duley's Bach shared with Stephen Layton's (with the National Chamber Choir and the Irish Chamber Orchestra at the National Concert Hall) was in the matter of scaling.
Duley's choir, Resurgam, is smaller even than the NCC, and Camerata Kilkenny provided him with an orchestra playing one to a part.
In the broadest sense, this performance scored on atmosphere, the appropriateness of the church setting, the distinctive colouring of Camerata Kilkenny's period instruments, and the strength of the continuo section, with Duley himself contributing on chamber organ.
The failings were in the details. The decision to have the members of Resurgam spread out in a single line seemed to work against solidity of choral tone, with one voice in particular standing out as if engaged on a solo performance.
A lot of the music-making was simply loose in discipline and anything but sharp in focus. In a venue where clarity was always going to be challenging to achieve, instruments and voices (whether solo or choral) often seemed to compete rather than co-operate.
There were some shining exceptions.
Stephen Richardson's Christus was resonant of tone, firm of delivery and unfailingly gripping. Mezzo soprano Alison Browner showed a musicianly earnestness which can be relied on to pay dividends in Bach.
However the Evangelist of Christopher Steele was frustratingly variable and the Pilate of Raitis Gringalis often too light.
Tenor Eamonn Mulhall and soprano Lynda Lee both managed to hint at a precision and musical stability that neither quite achieved.
Resurgam, Camerata Kilkenny/Duley St Nicholas of Myra Church, Dublin
