St Matthew Passion, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin review - the heights rescaled

When you’ve already come as close as possible to perfection in the greatest masterpiece, why risk a repeat performance with a difference? Because Bach’s St Matthew Passion needs to be an annual fixture without routine, and because inspirational IBO director Peter Whelan can be guaranteed not only to recapture the magic but to try a few new things, and to choose new soloists with fine judgement.

Two replacements matched the impact of last year's Evangelist and alto 1. Having got over the astonishment at the perfect countertenor, Hugh Cutting, in 2024, it was always a given that the great Helen Charlston would do things differently, but just as beautifully, in the crucial "Erbarme dich". Like so much else under Whelan's direction, it was carefully varied in intensity and articulation, with equally supreme violin-solo work from the very best, Bojan Čičić (another bonus this year).

I'd never heard an Evangelist live quite as nuanced or urgent as last year's Nick Pritchard, but Nicholas Mulroy (pictured right) equalled his achievement, gripping us from the start with the full range of dramatic and soft singing., all "off the book", as if his life depended upon it. Another emotional high-point was his plunge into the ache of "Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen", further intensified by the responses of the second chorus.

This was even more slimline than last year: four superb voices, matched by the four (including Mulroy and Charlston) in Chorus 1: eight in all, and I could have listened to them singing simply chorales all night; delivery from folk who are also born soloists that couldn't be bettered. There was an extra layer this year in St Patrick's Cathedral choristers joining the soprano line of the opening and closing numbers of the first part. As before, Whelan let his forces begin "Kommt, ihr Töchter" flowingly, almost understatedly, before turning the expressive screw in the final bars, ensuring we were committed to the drama that followed.

Every aria worked thanks to the expressive unity Whelan ensures: piercing beauty with an emotional bonus on "Herz" and "Kind" in "Blute nur" from Charlotte O'Hare, perfect blending with exquisitely haloed woodwind from Aisling Kenny in "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben", true devotion from Laura Lamph and Christopher Bowen, both stepping forward to make their solo mark in Part Two. The two bass-baritones, Edward Grint and William Gaunt, contrasted perfectly: Grint's Christus could be angry and disoriented, and it was good he was allowed to come to the pure joy of "Mache dich, mein Herze, rein". It was a delight, too, to watch the players of Orchestra 1 take such smiling pleasure in the virtuoso work of violinist Kinga Ujszazsi, first violin of Orchestra 2. As before, both double-bass players, Rosie Moon and Alex Felle, simply rocked. I'll warrant that the morning dip at the Forty Foot, where I came across half a dozen of the performers and admin quite by chance, will have charged up hearts and minds. All things to all people, Whelan's overall direction was never too fast or too slow, but embraced the world. It feels crazy to have given five stars to five performances in a row, but well deserved in every case. Can we have an "Amen" for that?

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