Markus Passion
St Mary’s Haddington 15/9/25
Dunedin Consort
John Butt music director, Bill Barclay director
It seems hardly possible that, with this concert by the Dunedin Consort of Bach’s lost ‘Markus Passion’, the Lammermuir Festival for 2025 has come to an end. I have been privileged to attend 10 separate events, virtually all of which have been sold out, and the standard has been uniformly high. I’ll be writing a look back report later in the week, but I am delighted to announce that tonight’s performance was quite magnificent, and one of my highlights of the Festival.
After the Johannes-Passion in 1724 and the Matthäus -Passion in 1729, it seems that Bach’s Markus-Passion was first performed in 1731. After another documented performance in 1744, it then appeared in a list of Bach’s compositions after his death in 1750, but with no score or text, it vanished from sight, a bit like the Ring of Power in Tolkien’s epic. There is no Bilbo Baggins in this story, but musicologists have been searching for the missing Passion ever since Wilhelm Rust, one of Bach’s successors at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, discovered, in 1873, in an inventory, a list of the instruments involved in the performances of the Markus-Passion, including two violas da gamba and two theorbos. In the absence of a manuscript, but with the knowledge that the funeral cantata from 1627 had the same instrumentation, scholars have pieced together a performing edition of a Passion which, with the addition of a couple of arias for bass which fit the story and mood perfectly, could well have been pretty close to the Markus-Passion which was heard in 1631 in Leipzig.
Taking things a little further, the Dunedin Consort, directed by the mercurial genius that is Dr John Butt, along with the brilliant director Bill Barclay, who thrilled us with ‘Secret Byrd’ a couple of years ago at the Lammermuir Festival, have put together a staged performance of the reconstructed Markus-Passion, with four solo singers, a small ensemble of top instrumentalists (including the two violas da gamba and the theorbos), and a spoken narrator, and it was this staged version that we saw tonight in the wonderful space of St Mary’s Church in Haddington.
Anna Dennis, James Hall, Nicholas Mulroy and Matthew Brook were the star soloists, and the excellent Joseph Marcell was the actor playing the Evangelist, Mark. John Butt directed the musical proceedings from the chamber organ and the whole piece played seamlessly for about an hour and a half. The singers had memorised their parts, and the various obbligato instruments in the various arias did likewise. The chorales and choruses were sung by the four singers, and from the very beginning, their blend of voices was spot on.
Bill Barclay has devised a simple yet effective staging, with the singers acting the roles during the narrative and speaking with enhanced sound, whereas the arias and choruses, like the other Bach passions, commented on the action without amplification (as far as I could hear). Holding the whole thing together, and commanding the stage completely, was the Evangelist, Joseph Marcell, perhaps best known for Geoffrey the Butler in ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ but also widely admired as a fine stage actor. His beautifully enunciated text was perfectly projected into the nave of the church, and his vocal range throughout, including many of the words of Jesus, was used to great effect.
The soprano, Anna Dennis, was dominant throughout, her clear bright voice ringing out both in solos and in the ensembles as the top line. I was delighted to hear the countertenor, James Hall again, as we had been close colleagues 8 years ago in Brett Dean’s ‘Hamlet’ at Glyndebourne. His two arias were quite different, and I particularly loved his second, ‘Mein Heiland dich vergeß ich nicht’ which showed off the awesome high notes in his range, while also being a model of legato singing. Nicholas Mulroy has a long association with the Dunedin Consort, and is indeed now Associate Director, and his mellifluous tenor was heard to great advantage in this piece. Matthew Brook also has a long connection with the Consort, and he and I were the two solo basses on the 2007 recording by Linn of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. There was an amusing event this Easter, when BBC Radio 3 played the aria, ‘Mache dich, mein Herze rein’ from that Dunedin recording, sung by Matthew but attributed to me on the radio. I received many texts and calls praising my wonderful singing of the Easter aria (this was on Good Friday), and I had to confess that “it wasnae me!” His singing tonight was typically superb, especially his interpolated aria (from Cantata 159), ‘Es ist vollbracht’, a beautiful meditation on the crucifixion.
There were stunning solo instrumentals, notably Katy Bircher’s flute, Antoine Torunczyk’s oboe and Matthew Truscott’s violin, and John Butt was in complete command on the chamber organ. A word too for Paula Chateauneuf on the big lute – back in the day when I was singing with all the major Baroque orchestras and ensembles, Paula Chateauneuf was the go to lady for theorbos and archlutes, and it was a delight to see her here tonight, a slight figure playing this enormous lute, still at the top of her game!
There was a hushed silence at the end of the performance, before the bravos rang out around the church. What a brilliant way to bring this brilliant festival to an end!
