MUSIC REVIEWS : BACH’S ‘ST. JOHN’ PASSION AT ST. ALBAN’S

Concluding its three-concert series celebrating the tercentenaries of Bach, Handel and Scarlatti and the 400th anniversary of the birth of Heinrich Schuetz, St. Alban’s Church in Westwood on Sunday afternoon presented a lucid and moving performance of Bach’s “St. John” Passion.

Led with an unflagging sense of continuity by James Vail, it was a performance heavy with textual details but lightened by Baroque textures. The 47-member St. Alban’s Choir provided dramatic weight in the major choruses, wonderful transparency in the chorales and, in every portion, clear balances and solid choral presence.

Michael Sells declaimed the Evangelist’s narrative with conviction, a varied and healthy sound and comprehensive musicality, his every utterance characterized by a sense of urgency. Handsome, deep tone and clarity of word gave Charles Roe’s singing of Jesus’ lines a special, and rare, poignancy.

Although they both began nervously, soprano Cynthia Westphal and mezzo-soprano Nina Hinson Rasmussen displayed rich tone and depth of feeling in their assignments. In the tenor solos, Stacy Aronson provided bright, promising and, for now, raw tone. Baritone Joel Pressman upheld the musical standard, as did Vail’s stylish but inconspicuous orchestra of 19.