Bach's St John Passion/ OAE; I Fagiolini/ Mark Padmore
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1

Musicians are often wearily resigned to staging the great Bach Passions with just a few hours' preparation, such is the parlous state of funding for classical music in this country, but give them several days' rehearsal and, like a butterfly from a chrysalis, a whole new, revelatory interpretation will emerge.

A residency at Aldeburgh, courtesy of new money from the Arts Council, gave the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, vocal group I Fagiolini and that outstanding Bach interpreter, Mark Padmore, a golden opportunity to look afresh at the St John Passion.

A handful of top players, a choir of eight, Padmore as Evangelist and the excellent Peter Harvey as Christus, presented their questing, searching St John to an ecstatic audience at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall last week.

Choosing to perform without a conductor meant that no single interpretation was at work there; each instrumentalist and singer had that responsibility thrust upon them. The result, after much discussion and rehearsal, was an instantly cohesive, rounded performance, full of narrative drive and dark drama.

The soloists were drawn from the choir, with Padmore and Harvey joining in the many chorales that interpolate the action. Padmore demonstrated again why he is the pre-eminent Evangelist of our age; his glass-clear voice was as supple as ever, and his unshakable sincerity shone at the very core of this extraordinary evening.

The one disappointment was the decision to include too many readings. It started well, with the first passage from Genesis forming a perfect introduction to the brooding intensity of the opening passages, but actor Stephen Dillane was given too much to read from Eliot's Ash Wednesday and brought the laudable momentum of this exhilarating performance to a shuddering halt.