With Cantata Collective, Nicholas McGegan adds to his luster in Bach's St. Matthew Passion

No matter to what degree you take J.S. Bach's settings of the gospel accounts of Jesus' suffering and death (the Passions) as confirmations of faith, esthetically they are shrewdly constructed to unify the narrative and spiritual centrality of the narrative and its durable meaning. The dogma of resurrection is strongly implied, of course, but the journey through the betrayal and capture of the figure Christians assert was God's anointed both raises and settles questions about the significance of his sacrifice for humankind.

Human promises of undying loyalty to the Savior are undercut by Jesus' isolation in the

Straightforward leadership from McGegan

Garden of Gethsemane, as the disciples fall asleep after declaring their intention to stay watchful. In a new recording conducted by Nicholas McGegan featuring Cantata Collective (issued in April on Avie Records), among the excellent features is the singing of bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton as Jesus. At the point just alluded to, Jesus' expression changes from preaching to prophecy, with an overlay of indignation at his followers' failure to keep their promise. Throughout, Jesus has firm authority without seeming to address either his followers or the judgmental priests from above the plane of earthly existence in which God's suffering has meaning. 

Such expressiveness holds fast throughout this performance, captured on three compact discs, with steady clarity and lofty but not abstract interpretive zest distributed between two adult choruses (with the San Francisco Girls Chorus prominent in the complex opening chorus)  and two orchestras, in addition to the six vocal soloists. Besides Tipton, there is radiance and a feeling  of vulnerability and tenderness, without any weakness, in the alto arias performed by countertenor Reginald Mosley, especially "Buss und Reu" (Penitence and remorse). The soprano arias, in some versions assigned to boys, come across with much firmer expression in the new recording, as sung by Sherezade Panthaki. To my ears, boy soprannos, however well-prepared, lack investment in the emotional weight of what they sing.

Another comparison, which I don't want to make too much of, rests upon the mostly excellent old recording of Concentus Musicus Wien led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. I much prefer tenor Thomas Cooley as McGegan's  Evangelist, a role responsible for delivering the narrative, upon which the commentary (set textually by Bach contemporary known as Picander) elaborates. The Evangelist must moderate his expressiveness, saving intensity for such episodes as the capture of Jesus enabled by Judas' betrayal. His role is to remind the listeners of texts they already know (allowing for varying familiarity with German), not to enact the narrative.

Cooley carries out that responsibility faithfully; in the Harnoncourt performance, there is too much characterization from Kurt Equiluz, a tenor I was not surprised to discover specialized in comic operatic roles. In the new recording, by the way, James Reese, the tenor assigned to the arias, does creditable work in "Ich will bei meinen Jesum wachen," the irony of which is underscored by the bittersweet choral commentary insisting "our sins will fall asleep" with the salvation assured by Christ's suffering. Human weakness is again rescued by God's assumption of human form, according to the dogma. 

McGegan is to be credited for having the instrumentalists underline the tone-painting, such as well-articulated instrumental stabs to indicate Jesus' silence in the face of false witnesses. That yields to the tenor aria "Geduld" (Patience), in which the dotted rhythms of the the cello obbligato pick up on the instrumental foreshadowing of the recitative. 

Also impressive is how well-defined the choral diction is, but without overemphasis on final consonants characteristic of the German language. Such sibilance and clicking sometimes emerge from  overconscientious enunciation by non-native-speaking choruses. 

In sum, this performance embodies the support of faith intended by Bach and his librettist, while presenting a consistent and scrupulous interpretation appealing on aesthetic grounds only, if that's the way you prefer to receive it.