Although the recent commercial history of these two productions is unclear, they nevertheless provide budget opportunities to witness the King’s College, Cambridge brand of Passion performance. There are marked similarities in approach in both: each is clearly directed, expressively controlled, rarely thrilling, and always fulfilling a consistently high level of performance. In the spirit of the Brilliant Classics formula of releasing Bach recordings in droves (recall the remarkable, newly recorded complete Cantata series in which 60 CDs can be bought for little over £100), documentation is almost non-existent, and disconcertingly spurious in the case of the St John, where the text – without translations – applies to the wrong version of the St John Passion. In both productions, there is an absence of performance dates but I’m prepared to guess the mid-1990s on spectacle design alone – and the fact that a St Matthew, on Vanguard CDs, was released with the same team in 1995.

Stephen Cleobury chooses the 1725 version of the St John in which Bach used, as his opening chorus, the music for the closing chorus of Part 1 of the St Matthew Passion (‘O Mensch, bewein’). I’ve always thought this to be a curious move by Bach; whether it is a matter of contextual assimilation or a genuine sense of displacement, this fine movement conveys more a sense of taking stock and gathering up than setting scenes. There are other changes to the original Bach version of a year earlier (to which, incidentally, he later reverted), such as the theatrical virtuoso aria, ‘Zerschmettert mich’, which replaces ‘Ach, mein Sinn’.

It is still good to be reminded of this alternative text even if the lack of graphic foreboding, as one gets in the other chorus, results in a somewhat tentative opening ‘tableau’. The soloists appear tense (far too much copy-gazing) and only the direct and stern delivery of the Evangelist, John Mark Ainsley, reveals the essence of an intense and life-changing journey. He sings directly to the camera while assuring a clear demarcation between regaling fact and representing the emotional high points, such as his extraordinary melisma on Peter’s heart-wrenching denial. There are fine contributions, especially from Stephen Varcoe (as a highly-motivated Pilate and bass soloist) and an exceptionally immediate and affecting ‘Es ist Vollbracht’ from Michael Chance. Elsewhere, the impression is one of a well-prepared ensemble of choir and orchestra, asked to play by the book – but not to relive the passion story with excessive realism or much interpretative personality.

There is a far greater sense of atmosphere in the St Matthew performance, mainly on account of greater reflective elements within a larger musical edifice but also the more spacious and graceful approach to the music-making. The opening chorus is eloquently performed. The Choir of King’s are on top form throughout, each contribution as eagerly anticipated as the preceding one. So, too, are the excellent obbligato performances from the Brandenburg Consort.

Rogers Covey-Crump brings his time-honoured intelligence to proceedings, fastidious in enunciation and tasteful to a fault. The problem with the soloists, en masse, is the lack of definition in sound: the building wins over vocal clarity in a way that is more effectively realised in the St John. Even so, nothing can detract from the radiance of Emma Kirkby in ‘Blute nur’ or in the never-flagging duet ‘So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen’ (arguably the most mysterious music in the work), with Michael Chance, who presents his varied and substantial role with colour and unremitting expressivity. Michael George is the archetypal authoritative and dependable Christus – vocally impressive as ever where David Thomas’s communicative abilities and characterisation tend to impress more consistently than a universally compelling vocal presence. I was disappointed with the mundane valediction of the final numbers but Cleobury projects an unfettered (apart from simulated lightning outside the chapel windows for ‘Sind blitze und donner’!) and musicianly view which works far more successfully over a large span than his performance of the St John.