There is no such thing as an unwelcome performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion. Still, it seemed odd for the London Symphony Orchestra - not on home territory in this repertoire anyway - to have programmed this Lenten work on a day when many of us still have Easter eggs to work on. Maybe they misread their calendar; or maybe this was the only day on which they could book the starry line-up they hoped for.
Sadly, not all of that line-up materialised: the conductor Frans Brüggen and bass René Pape dropped out in advance, with Matthias Goerne a last-minute casualty. Those absences weren't responsible for the surprisingly and disappointingly lacklustre nature of this performance. But they may perhaps have made the LSO regret its decision not to sing the work in translation, as the changes left only one German-speaking soloist on stage: the mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager, on a night off from Der Rosenkavalier at Covent Garden. She, usually such a compelling singer, remained unengaging, barely glancing up from her copy even though her voice suits this music well.
Refusing to be inspired even by some very fine wind solos, the other aria singers were scarcely any more communicative, with the exception of Michael George, standing in for Pape. The storytelling recitatives were livelier vocally, with John Mark Ainsley a strong and often expressive Evangelist and Stephen Roberts a fierce Christ. But the continuo was unimaginative and the strings didn't quite conjure up the warm, halo-like glow that should envelop Jesus's words. Harry Christophers, Brüggen's replacement, set fleet tempos without infusing the orchestral playing with much energy.
The full choral numbers, delivered with vigour and commitment by the London Symphony Chorus, were the best thing about the evening. Even so, when Ainsley turned a wrong musical corner and briefly brought the performance to a halt, it hardly seemed to matter - there was precious little atmosphere to be broken anyway. With so many on stage seemingly going through the motions, passion was not the right word.
