William Christie, Les Arts Florissants

William Christie brings a lifetime’s experience to bear on Bach’s St John Passion, in this Lent performance with Les Arts Florissants.

There’s no questioning the spiritual and artistic grandeur of Bach’s great retelling of Christ’s passion. But the St John Passion is often seen as the more inward and intimate of Bach’s two settings: qualities that an artist as perceptive as Christie is uniquely equipped to bring out.

After all, as Bach himself showed, there’s more than one path to the truth – and not many period instrument ensembles play with more vivacity and imagination than Les Arts Florissants, especially under Christie’s direction. Reinoud van Mechelen, as the Evangelist, heads a youthful cast of soloists: an invigorating complement to Christie’s decades of experience in this profound and timeless work of sacred art.