Bob Chilcott’s compact St John Passion follows in outline Bach’s work. It opens powerfully: the chorus proclaim Christ as saviour of mankind, Chaconne Brass introducing these verses in a declamatory style. Ed Lyon sings his long role with conviction. The voice is agile, a touch monochrome at times, but the words are clear and at key moments in the drama, as in ‘The Crucifixion’, he comes into his own with some expressive singing in the upper register. Neal Davies in his portrayal of Christ has a more sombre timbre, with brass and organ lending gravity to his words. Darren Jeffery, in the passive role of Pilate, is the lighter baritone. Laurie Ashworth’s pure timbre complements the ethereal choral tone in two of the meditations, striking an appropriately personal note in ‘Christ, my beloved’, where the tender part-writing is a pleasure to hear.

Chilcott’s expression marks don’t always receive full value here or in ‘Away vain world’, where the heading ‘soft and inward’ goes for little. There’s a lack of forward momentum at times both here and in places where the drama could be propelled along as it is by the cellist Richard May and the Evangelist as they approach the choral climax, ‘We have no king but Caesar’.

The new hymn settings are more a matter of personal taste. The first, ‘It is a thing most wonderful’, could well compete with Coe Fen among the nation’s favourite hymns. However, coming after the scene in ‘The Garden’, where the gospel reading has just got under way, its well-upholstered writing strikes an incongruous note. Neverthless, the unison opening of the concluding hymn, ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross’, conveys the simplicity of purpose that would seem to lie behind this work.