KEY POINTS:
Bach's B minor Mass is one of the masterpieces of the Baroque choral repertoire and a unique challenge to those who would perform it.
Even the "impious clatter of a motorbike" could not lessen the power of the Gloria from the Mass when poet Siegfried Sassoon experienced the work, presented, as he put it, "with confident and well-conducted brio".
There were no such vehicular distractions when Bach Musica delivered this magnum opus at Holy Trinity Cathedral on Sunday and Rita Paczian's direction was as incisive and idiomatic as ever. Choir and orchestra blended harmoniously for the opening Kyrie Eleison, setting up a momentum that was sustained through to the jubilant "Cum Sancto Spiritu".
A team of experienced soloists made its first impact when Nicola Edgecombe and Kate Spence rendered their shapely Christe eleison. Edgecombe went on to weave her finely honed soprano through the brilliant instrumental tapestry of Laudamus Te while Spence's resonant alto illuminated the Qui sedes, partnered by the sweet, autumnal tone of Alison Dunlop's oboe d'amore.
David Griffiths' energetic Quoniam had horn and bassoons behind the baritone; another duet found Edgecombe in particularly sympathetic pairing with tenor Richard Phillips singing the Domine Deus.
By the second half of the concert, there was some flagging of energy on the choral front; the florid sections did not manage the zest of the earlier Gloria and a tired Confiteor did not match the intensity and concentration of the Et incarnatus est and the Crucifixus.
All those years ago, when Sassoon experienced his Bachian epiphany at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, he singled out the Benedictus which he claimed, "sings my heart to me". He would have said the same of Patrick Power's exemplary handling of this aria, complemented by the liquid beauty of Luca Manghi's flute and Michael Bell's astute continuo.
As the final chord of the Dona nobis pacem rang through the cathedral, a large audience, the second biggest in Bach Musica's 30 years, responded with appropriate, hearty applause.
