James MacMillan: St Luke Passion - review

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St Luke Passion

Netherlands Radio Choir

(Challenge Classics)

Bach's Passions loom like giants over aspiring composers of sacred music.

A devout Scottish Catholic, James MacMillan brings a keen sense of drama to his daunting task.

At just over 70 minutes, his St Luke Passion offers a concentrated biblical narrative with none of the contrasts provided by Bach's solo arias and chorales.

This live recording of the premiere in Amsterdam, conducted by Markus Stenz, shows the music is good at portraying the extremes of almighty power and frail piety, but the personal, human level is missing.

The lack of texts is also unhelpful.

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