Drama & presence: Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Barbican with Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen, Nick Pritchard & Alex Rosen

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Alex Rosen (Jesus), Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

Bach: St Matthew Passion; Nick Pritchard, Alex Rosen, Carolyn Sampson, Hugh Cutting, Hugo Hymas, Thomas Bauer, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen; Barbican Centre
1 April 2026

Great presence and a sense of drama, this was Bach's great passion as communal expressive enterprise with intent performances from all crowned by fine solo singing and choral contributions, with Nick Pritchard's profoundly moving Evangelist at the centre.

Much ink has been spilt over the forces that Bach used to perform his St Matthew Passion. Undoubtedly it was a stretch, his family did not call it the great passion for nothing. Yet it was given four or five times at Leipzig. We will probably never know exactly what forces were used, we lack the sort of detailed evidence we have for Messiah performances that Handel gave at the Foundling Hospital.

The St Matthew Passion works very well when using just eight singers, covering all the solo roles and the choruses. This creates a sense of intimacy, and the various arias with chorale are transformed into fascinating ensembles. Yet, this approach is taxing and does not represent the entirety of the work. Also, it is worth bearing in mind that Bach was aware of the musical world around him, of the courts in Dresden and in Berlin. Even when struggling to perform the St Matthew Passion with minimal forces in Leipzig he might have imagined how the work would sound in the unlikely setting of the (Roman Catholic) court chapel in Dresden, for instance.

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Hugh Cutting, Carolyn Sampson, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo are performing Bach's St Matthew Passion on a short tour (London, Netherlands, Germany) and presented the work at the Barbican on 1 April 2026, with Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist, Alex Rosen as Jesus, plus soloists Carolyn Sampson, Hugh Cutting, Hugo Hymas and Thomas Bauer. The forces used included two choirs of 17 singers each (mixed men and women altos), and two orchestras of around 18 each, with all the smaller solos being drawn from the choir.

It was very much a 'traditional' version, in the sense of the tradition that has developed in the 20th century, yet Cohen has a fine ear and even in the opening chorus, the choir did not over-dominate. This was never a choral society version, and throughout it was clear that Cohen had thought everything through rather than following tradition blindly. One final detail that I enjoyed, after the last recitative sung by all four soloists they remained on stage and sang in the final chorus, making it truly a communal summation.

The opening chorus began quietly as Cohen slowly built the sound in a gradual unfolding. The result was powerful but not over-emphatic and the rich tapestry of detail - orchestral and choral - was fully apparent with a great spring to the rhythms. Only towards the end, as the movement drew to a climax, did the choral sound dominate.

Throughout chorus and orchestra had great presence, and Cohen kept the drama flowing without any awkward pauses to that this was a drama that moved.

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Carolyn Sampson, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

Nick Pritchard sang the Evangelist from memory, as he did in the recent St John Passion with the Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and Peter Whelan [see my review].  Pritchard's sound easily filled the hall, not over loud but commanding with clarity to the words. As ever, with Pritchard, there was the sense that the words matter, that he wanted to convey to us the full meaning. This meant that the Evangelist's recitative was full of vocal colour and individual inflections which brought out the detailed emotions that Pritchard's Evangelist was feeling. There were moments of great intimacy, when the meaning was paramount, but also moments of vivid viciousness. At Jesus's arrest, Pritchard's cascades of notes brought a real sense of drama to the narrative.

As Jesus, the American bass Alex Rosen had a wonderfully resonant dark-toned voice with a meaty bite to it. His delivery was often firm, and in the more dramatic scenes he could be trenchant, but with a great use of vocal colours, and at the right moment he brought out a lovely lyricism too. Throughout, whether interacting with the Disciples, or with the High Priest or with Pilate, there was a sense that this Jesus was to a certain extent withdrawn from the drama. He was what he was, Rosen managed to bringing out the self-knowledge in the role with a commitment that might be trenchant or even truculent, but always used his resonant dark tones. The ending, just one single line in this reading of the Passion, was intense, vibrant and devastating.

In all her arias, you felt as if Carolyn Sampson was embodying the character singing them. Without and staging she seemed to bring them alive. In 'Blute nur' her tragic mien rather intensified the feeling alongside her fine tone. 'Wiewohl mein Herz' featured wonderfully characterful oboes and bassoon, then 'Ich will dir mein Herze schenken' had a real sense of joy to it and sprung rhythms.

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Patrick Keefe (Pilate), Eleanor Garside (Pilate's Wife), Alex Rosen (Jesus), Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

In Part Two, after a restrained recitative 'Er hat uns allen wohlgetan', Carolyn Sampson sang 'Aus Liebe' on a thread of voice interweaving with the fine flute solo to create a little bit of magic. And we got a strong sense of contrast as it was immediately followed by Pritchard's tortured recit 'Sie schreien aber noch mehr'.

Hugh Cutting began as he meant to go on and sang 'Du lieber Heiland' with great meaning. His beauty of tone was allied to a sense of musical line, the way he spun long notes and shaded off phrases. 'Buss' und Reu' was almost a dance, yet with strong rhythms and bitter words. He was singing to us, in all his arias it felt as if Cutting invested them with an urgency to communicate.

At the end of Part One, Sampson and Cutting joined together for the glorious duet, 'So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen', the two contrasting voices both rather intimate yet weaving together and paired with strong woodwind and spitting chorus.

Cutting opened Part Two with 'Ach nun is mein Jesus hin!' where the initial long note was floated magically, yet he developed the piece with vehement intensity. 'Erbarme dich' was everything one could have wished for, the long breathed, beautifully shaped lines and finely spun long notes. Plus a sense of meaning, with a lightness to the overall accompanying rhythms and terrific violin solo. Cutting's strong account of 'Erbarme es Gott!' led to a lovely intimate account of 'Können Tränen meiner Wangen' with his familiar care over the phrasing. 'Ach, Golgotha' was intense, leading to an urgent account of 'Sehet! Sehet!' with finely characterful wind solos and whilst he despatched the more bravura passages with clear enjoyment.

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Hugo Herman-Wilson (Judas), Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

Hugo Hymas's recitative with chorus, 'O Schmerz' pitted him against the wonderful colours of the wind but he gave the music an intensity and real sense of drama. By contrast, the chorus was gently blended, contrasting with Hymas's intensity. In the aria, 'Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen' he was paired with a perky oboe. Here Hymas still had an edge to the tone, but made the whole rather touching.

In Part Two, Hymas's first recitative, with its fabulous wind accompaniment, was steady yet with an intensity that continued into the aria, 'Geduld, Geduld' which Hymas sang with plangent tone.

For his first recitative, Thomas Bauer made the words count and the music was very marked. In his aria, 'Gerne will ich mich bequemen' though he was characterful, as the music moved along swiftly you felt he did not always project to the rear of the hall. In Part Two, 'Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder' was taken at quite a lick with a fine violin solo. Bauer really spat the words out, displaying great commitment if perhaps not ideal accuracy. Whilst its preceding recitative was expressive, Bauer sounded over careful in 'Komm, süsses Kreuz' and perhaps even effortful. In his final recitative Bauer showed great care with the words, though perhaps 'Mache dich, mein Herze, rein' was rather over emphatic, but we did have the wondrous oboe da caccia solo to enjoy along with a strong orchestral contribution.

The final recitative sung by all four soloists was profoundly moving and lead finely into the last chorus.

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

The other solo parts, all standing out from the choir, were well taken and having the individual soloists move into a central position between the choirs provided a fine element of drama. Hugo Herman-Wilson was a strong Judas, vivid at first but almost touching in his interaction with Jesus. Patrick Keefe (one of the current crop of ENO Harewood Artists) was Pilate, singing with strong, dark tone and making the character trenchant and uncompromising, Alexander Bower-Brown was a dark-toned decisive Peter, with Eleanor Garside as a strong Pilate's wife, Daisy Walford and Daisy Livesey as Maids, Stephanie Frankline and Jeremy Budd as False Witnesses, and Adam Green and Thomas Humphreys as High Priests.

The orchestral contribution was equal to that of the soloists and choir, this was very much a communal enterprise, vividly present and expressive. The individual solos were all impressive, but it was also the smaller moments that counted too, with fine support from the continuo team. 

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