Programme & Notes Texts & Translations Performers & Credits Artist Biographies

Programme

[Please scroll down]

Arvo Pärt
Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem

Programme Note

Arvo Pärt was born in 1935, during the short-lived first Estonian Republic. Just five years later, the Soviet Union effectively annexed the Baltic country, with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Pärt studied at the specialist music secondary school in Tallinn and subsequently at the city’s conservatory, with the celebrated Estonian composer Veljo Tormis. After completing his military service, Pärt worked as a sound engineer and composer for films, theatre and children’s TV programmes (his soundtracks for these are worth looking up on YouTube!). Indeed, before developing and devoting himself to the so-called tintinnabuli technique — the compositional approach he is best known for today — Pärt explored the broadest possible range of different styles, traversing virtually the entire gamut of aesthetic trends of the time. In the earlier years of his career, Pärt composed works that variously employ folk influences, strict serialism, experimental counterpoint (heavily under the influence of J.S. Bach) and a kind of collage-based style.

But around 1976, Pärt began experimenting with an approach to composition that he termed tintinnabulation. The system is essentially based on the ringing of bells, with which the composer found himself increasingly captivated. In an interview, he described the resonances of the technique and what it meant to him at the time in aesthetic terms:

Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers — in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises — and everything that is unimportant falls away.

On a practical level, Pärt’s tintinnabulation is a deceptively simple technique. He takes two musical lines at a time: one (the melody voice) playing or singing a scale with the notes rising or falling by a single step at a time, while the other (the so-called tintinnabuli voice) leaps around it with an accompanying broken chord. The two voices are always ordered to present an alternation between consonance and dissonance. This relationship often manifests itself in unusual and striking ways, leading to a completely fresh-sounding, luminous harmonic language. At times, it seems to completely invert the very concepts of consonance and dissonance. The purest (and perhaps most profound) example of Pärt’s tintinnabuli can probably be heard in the short but crystalline solo piano piece Für Alina (it’s worth watching this video, which shows the score and beautifully illustrates how the practice works in real-time). But Pärt went on to work with this technique in progressively larger-scale works, employing it at multiple levels simultaneously between several instruments and/or voices.

On the one hand, Pärt’s post-1970s music owes little to the Estonian tradition. It is a fusion of the Western classical tradition’s disparate elements, with the unmistakable influence of the Russian Orthodox church’s musical soundworld and its liturgical chant and bells. However, on the other hand, such music could never really have come from anywhere else. At various times in its history, Estonia has been under the rule of the Danish, Swedish, Germans and Russians. The majority religion is, in fact, Lutheranism (the church in which Pärt was brought up, rather than the Orthodox church to which he only turned later in life). After the Soviet annexation, the new regime worked hard to reduce the previously vibrant Estonian cultural communities’ influence, which it always regarded as potentially subversive. Estonia’s creative community of writers, composers and artists therefore had a particularly complex relationship with the latest twentieth-century modernist developments, maintaining links to both the USSR and the West. Pärt’s later music (i.e. post-1976) brings these elements and cultural conditions together in equal measure, creating something wholly different — a genuinely unique soundworld.

Passio was completed in 1982, not long after Für Alina. But it took tintinnabulation to a different level. Passio isn’t really easy listening. It’s attracted criticism and been held up as an example by Pärt’s critics as a work entirely based on a formulaic approach, devoid of creative imagination. It is certainly a different thing altogether from J.S. Bach’s Passion settings, which, to most listeners, are probably the paradigm (although we know that Passions were sung since at least the thirteenth century). Whereas Bach’s Passions borrowed their musical language directly from the opera house, in Passio Pärt strips away all the rhetoric and depersonalises the characters.

Pärt employs a quartet of four singers (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) to deliver the Evangelist’s narrative. They are often accompanied (but just as often not) by a quartet of violin, oboe, cello and bassoon. The only two individuated voices in Passio are those of Christus (bass) and Pilatus (tenor), who always sing alone accompanied by the organ. And while Pärt does employ a chorus to sing the so-called turba or crowd choruses, these are short outbursts rather than the large-scale dramatic tableaux of Bach’s Matthew Passion, which you might have heard us perform recently.

Pärt sets John’s Gospel in the Latin Vulgate translation. The church fathers traditionally believed John the Evangelist was the only one of the Apostles actually to witness Christ on the cross. In comparison with the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), John’s account is terse, and Pärt’s pared-back musical language matches this accordingly. Passio reflects John’s matter-of-fact style in numerous ways, but most obviously in its simple three-part structure. The piece opens with a choral ‘exordium’ and closes with an exquisite prayer, exactly as laid out in John 18. Between these short, self-contained sections comes the main narrative, introduced a cappella by the baritone of the Evangelist quartet.

Pärt identifies the different musical groups in sharp contrast using a series of tonal and rhythmical tropes. Pärt’s music is often described as being ‘modal’ — i.e. using the tools of the medieval world, before flats and sharps became part of the harmonic language. But this is only partly true. What Pärt actually does is allude to both the modal and tonal systems simultaneously and play off the resulting tensions between the two. This has a powerful effect, as past, present and future are heard to collide. While the Evangelist and instrumental quartets (and Jesus) are confined to the plangent Aeolian/Hypodorian mode, the chorus interjects with E-major chords, as if coming from a different world. The respective singers’ vocal registers never change, even as the organ accompaniment does, going from playing a supporting role to being inverted and floating ethereally above (particularly in the case of Christ).

Rhythmically, Pärt uses a codified formal structure based on the syllable lengths and punctuation marks that end each clause or sentence. Commas, periods and colons are set to progressively slower note values. In turn, these cadences are punctuated by extended silences, a trademark of Pärt’s tintinnabuli style. It is as if he provides time for the bell sounds to completely dissipate before he feels ready to introduce the next musical phrase. The other thing to note in rhythmic terms is how both the crowd chorus and Pilate always begin with a syncopated figure — like they are somehow at odds with the other groups’ musical perfections. Pilate’s part is the most random (in a very literal way!) of the whole piece. His line joins together a series of strange angular melodic leaps and the consistent implication of the tritone between B and F (something that was forbidden in medieval music, and known as the diabolus in musica). This perhaps offers some insight into Pärt’s reading of Pilate the politician’s internal psyche. But don’t worry if you’re not a music theorist: you’ll hear it as well as you’d see it on the score.

While all this might seem a bit contrived when described in prose, in performance Pärt’s carefully constructed formal devices help define a natural dramatic pacing, faithfully preserving the syntax of the text. And whereas Bach’s Passion settings actively seek to persuade the listener with missionary zeal, Passio makes no such attempt. Instead, it offers a more objective presentation of the narrative, inviting the listener to meditate on all the implications and ambiguities of the text from a 20th-century perspective, whether they may be a believer or not.

David Lee

▶️ WATCH pre-concert talk with William Conway (conductor)
▶️ WATCH pre-concert interview with Matthew Brook (Christus)

Arvo Pärt
Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem

•••

John 18: 1-40

CHORUS:
Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem.

EVANGELISTA:
Haec cum dixisset Jesus, egressus est cum discipulis suis trans torrentem Cedron, ubi erat hortus, in quem introivit ipse et discipuli ejus. Sciebat autem et Judas, qui tradebat eum, locum, quia frequenter Jesus convenerat illuc cum discipulis suis. Judas ergo cum accepisset cohortem et a pontificibus et pharisaeis ministros, venit illuc cum lanternis et facibus et armis. Jesus itaque sciens omnia, quae ventura erant super eum, processit et dixit eis:

JESUS:
Quem quaeritis?

EVANGELISTA:
Responderunt ei:

CHORUS:
Jesum Nazarenum.

EVANGELISTA:
Dicit eis Jesus:

JESUS:
Ego sum.

EVANGELISTA:
Stabat autem et Judas, qui tradebat eum, cum ipsis. Ut ergo dixit eis: Ego sum, abierunt retrorsum et ceciderunt in terram. Iterum ergo interrogavit eos:

JESUS:
Quem quaeritis?

EVANGELISTA:
Illi autem dixerunt:

CHORUS:
Jesum Nazarenum.

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Jesus:

JESUS:
Dixi vobis, quia ego sum: Si ergo me quaeritis, sinite hos abire.

EVANGELISTA:
Ut impleretur sermo, quem dixit: Quia quos dedisti mihi, non perdidi ex eis quemquam. Simon ergo Petrus, habens gladium, eduxit eum et percussit pontificis servum et abscidit auriculam ejus dexteram. Erat autem nomen servo Malchus. Dixit ergo Jesus Petro:

JESUS:
Mitte gladium tuum in vaginam. Calicem, quem dedit mihi Pater, non bibam illum?

EVANGELISTA:
Cohors ergo et tribunus et ministri Judaeorum comprehenderunt Jesum et ligaverunt eum et adduxerunt eum ad Annam primum; erat enim socer Caiphae, qui erat pontifex anni illius. Erat autem Caiphas, qui consilium dederat Judaeis: Quia expedit, unum hominem mori pro populo. Sequebatur autem Jesum Simon Petrus, et alius discipulus. Discipulus autem ille erat notus pontifici et introivit cum Jesu in atrium pontificis. Petrus autem stabat ad ostium foris. Exivit ergo discipulus alius, qui erat notus pontifici, et dixit ostiariae et introduxit Petrum. Dixit ergo Petro ancilla ostiaria:

CHORUS:
Numquid et tu ex discipulis es hominis istius?
Evangelista Dicit ille:

PETRUS:
Non sum.

EVANGELISTA:
Stabant autem servi, et ministri ad prunas, quia frigus erat, et caleficiebant se; erat autem cum eis et Petrus stans et calefaciens se. Pontifex ergo interrogavit Jesum de discipulis suis, et de doctrina ejus. Respondit ei Jesus:

JESUS:
Ego palam locutus sum mundo; ego semper docui in synagoga et in templo, quo omnes Judaei conveniunt, et in occulto locutus sum nihil. Quid me interrogas? Interroga eos, qui audierunt quid locutus sum ipsis; ecce hi sciunt quae dixerim ego.

EVANGELISTA:
Haec autem cum dixisset, unus assistens ministrorum dedit alapam Jesu, dicens:

CHORUS:
Sic respondes pontifici?

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit ei Jesus:

JESUS:
Si male locutus sum, testimonium perhibe de malo; si autem bene, quid me caedis?

EVANGELISTA:
Et misit eum Annas ligatum ad Caipham pontificem. Erat autem Simon Petrus stans et calefaciens se. Dixerunt ergo ei:

CHORUS:
Numquid et tu ex discipulis ejus es?

EVANGELISTA:
Negavit ille, et dixit:

PETRUS:
Non sum.

EVANGELISTA:
Dicit ei unus ex servis pontificis, cognatus ejus, cujus abscidit Petrus auriculam:

CHORUS:
Nonne ego te vidi in horto cum illo?

EVANGELISTA:
Iterum ergo negavit Petrus; et statim gallus cantavit. Adducunt ergo Jesum a Caipha in praetorium. Erat autem mane et ipsi non introierunt in praetorium, ut non contaminarentur, sed manducarent Pascha. Exivit ergo Pilatus ad eos foras, et dixit:

PILATUS:
Quam accusationem affertis adversus hominem hunc?

EVANGELISTA:
Responderunt et dixerunt ei:

CHORUS:
Si non esset hic malefactor, non tibi tradidissemus eum.

EVANGELISTA:
Dixit ergo eis Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Accipite eum vos et secundum legem vestram judicate eum!

EVANGELISTA:
Dixerunt ergo ei Judaei:

CHORUS:
Nobis non licet interficere quemquam.

EVANGELISTA:
Ut sermo Jesu impleretur, quem dixit, significans qua morte esset moriturus. Introivit ergo iterum in praetorium Pilatus et vocavit Jesum et dixit ei:

PILATUS:
Tu es rex Judaeorum?

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Jesus:

JESUS:
A temetipso hoc dicis, an alii dixerunt tibi de me?

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Numquid ego Judaeus sum? Gens tua et pontifices tradiderunt te mihi; quid fecisti?

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Jesus:

JESUS:
Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. Si ex hoc mundo esset regnum meum, ministri mei utique decertarent ut non traderer Judaeis; nunc autem regnum meum non est hinc.

EVANGELISTA:
Dixit itaque ei Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Ergo rex es tu?

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Jesus:

JESUS:
Tu dicis quia rex sum ego. Ego in hoc natus sum et ad hoc veni in mundum, ut testimonium perhibeam veritati; omnis, qui est ex veritate, audit vocem meam.

EVANGELISTA:
Dicit ei Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Quid est veritas?

EVANGELISTA:
Et cum hoc dixisset, iterum exivit ad Judaeos, et dicit eis:

PILATUS:
Ego nullam invenio in eo causam. Est autem consuetudo vobis, ut unum dimittam vobis in Pascha; vultis ergo dimittam vobis regem Judaeorum?

EVANGELISTA:
Clamaverunt ergo rursum omnes, dicentes:

CHORUS:
Non hunc, sed Barabbam.

EVANGELISTA:
Erat autem Barabbas latro.

Arvo Part
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St John

•••

John 18: 1-40

CHORUS:
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St John.

EVANGELIST:
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them:

JESUS:
Whom seek ye?

EVANGELIST:
They answered him:

CHORUS:
Jesus of Nazareth.

EVANGELIST:
Jesus saith unto them:

JESUS:
I am he.

EVANGELIST:
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again:

JESUS:
Whom seek ye?

EVANGELIST:
And they said:

CHORUS:
Jesus of Nazareth.

EVANGELIST:
Jesus answered:

JESUS:
I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:

EVANGELIST:
That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake: Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter:

JESUS:
Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

EVANGELIST:
Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, and led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter:

CHORUS:
Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples?

EVANGELIST:
He saith:

PETER:
I am not.

EVANGELIST:
And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him:

JESUS:
I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.

EVANGELIST:
And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying:

CHORUS:
Answerest thou the high priest so?

EVANGELIST:
Jesus answered him:

JESUS:
If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?

EVANGELIST:
Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest. And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him,

CHORUS:
Art not thou also one of his disciples?

EVANGELIST:
He denied it, and said:

PETER:
I am not.

EVANGELIST:
One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith:

CHORUS:
Did not I see thee in the garden with him?

EVANGELIST:
Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said:

PILATE:
What accusation bring ye against this man?

EVANGELIST:
They answered and said unto him:

CHORUS:
If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

EVANGELIST:
Then said Pilate unto them:

PILATE:
Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.

EVANGELIST:
The Jews therefore said unto him:

CHORUS:
It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:

EVANGELIST:
That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him:

PILATE:
Art thou the King of the Jews?

EVANGELIST:
Jesus answered him:

JESUS:
Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

EVANGELIST:
Pilate answered:

PILATE:
Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

EVANGELIST:
Jesus answered:

JESUS:
My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

EVANGELIST:
Pilate therefore said unto him:

PILATE:
Art thou a king then?

EVANGELIST:
Jesus answered:

JESUS:
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

EVANGELIST:
Pilate saith unto him:

PILATE:
What is truth?

EVANGELIST:
And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them:

PILATE:
I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

EVANGELIST:
Then cried they all again, saying:

CHORUS:
Not this man, but Barabbas.

EVANGELIST:
Now Barabbas was a robber.

John 19: 1-42

EVANGELISTA:
Tunc ergo apprehendit Pilatus Jesum et flagellavit. Et milites plectentes coronam de spinis, imposuerunt capiti ejus et veste purpurea circumdederunt eum. Et veniebant ad eum, et dicebant:

CHORUS:
Ave, rex Judaeorum!

EVANGELISTA:
Et dabant ei alapas. Exivit ergo iterum Pilatus foras et dicit eis:

PILATUS:
Ecce adduco vobis eum foras, ut cognoscatis quia nullam invenio in eo causam.

EVANGELISTA:
Exivit ergo Jesus, portans coronam spineam et purpureum vestimentum. Et dicit eis:

PILATUS:
Ecce homo!

EVANGELISTA:
Cum ergo vidissent eum Pontifices et ministri, clamabant dicentes:

CHORUS:
Crucifige, crucifige eum!

EVANGELISTA:
Dicit eis Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Accipite eum vos et crucifigite; ego enim non invenio in eo causam.

EVANGELISTA:
Responderunt ei Judaei:

CHORUS:
Nos legem habemus, et secundum legem debet mori, quia Filium Dei se fecit.

EVANGELISTA:
Cum ergo audisset Pilatus hunc sermonem, magis timuit. Et ingressus est praetorium iterum et dixit ad Jesum:

PILATUS:
Unde es tu?

EVANGELISTA:
Jesus autem responsum non dedit ei. Dicit ergo ei Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Mihi non loqueris? Nescis quia potestatem habeo crucifigere te et potestatem habeo dimittere te?

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Jesus:

JESUS:
Non haberes potestatem adversum me ullam, nisi tibi datum esset desuper. Propterea, qui me tradidit tibi, majus peccatum habet.

EVANGELISTA:
Et exinde quaerebat Pilatus dimittere eum. Judaei autem clamabant dicentes:

CHORUS:
Si hunc dimittis, non es amicus Caesaris. Omnis enim, qui se regem facit, contradicit Caesari.

EVANGELISTA:
Pilatus autem, cum audisset hos sermones, adduxit foras Jesum et sedit pro tribunali, in loco, qui dicitur Lithostrotos, Hebraice autem Gabbatha. Erat autem Parasceve Paschae, hora quasi sexta et dicit Judaeis:

PILATUS:
Ecce rex vester.

EVANGELISTA:
Illi autem clamabant:

CHORUS:
Tolle, tolle, crucifige eum!

EVANGELISTA:
Dicit eis Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Regem vestrum crucifigam?

EVANGELISTA:
Responderunt Pontifices:

CHORUS:
Non habemus regem, nisi Caesarem.

EVANGELISTA:
Tunc ergo tradidit eis illum, ut crucifigeretur. Susceperunt autem Jesum et eduxerunt. Et bajulans sibi crucem exivit in eum, qui dicitur Calvariae locum, Hebraice autem Golgotha; ubi crucifixerunt eum, et cum eo alios duos hinc et hinc medium autem Jesum. Scripsit autem et titulum Pilatus et posuit super crucem. Erat autem scriptum: Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum. Hunc ergo titulum multi Judaeorum legerunt, quia prope civitatem erat locus, ubi crucifixus est Jesus. Et erat scriptum Hebraice, Graece, et Latine. Dicebant ergo Pilato pontifices Judaeorum:

CHORUS:
Noli scribere, Rex Judaeorum, sed quia ipse dixit: Rex sum Judaeorum.

EVANGELISTA:
Respondit Pilatus:

PILATUS:
Quod scripsi, scripsi.

EVANGELISTA:
Milites ergo cum crucifixissent eum, acceperunt vestimenta ejus, et fecerunt quattuor partes, unicuique militi partem, et tunicam. Erat autem tunica inconsutilis, desuper contexta per totum. Dixerunt ergo ad invicem:

CHORUS:
Non scindamus eam, sed sortiamur de illa cujus sit.

EVANGELISTA:
Ut Scriptura impleretur, dicens: Partiti sunt vestimenta mea sibi et in vestem meam miserunt sortem. Et milites quidem haec fecerunt. Stabant autem juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus, et soror matris ejus, Maria Cleopae, et Maria Magdalene. Cum vidisset ergo Jesus matrem, et discipulum stantem, quem diligebat, dicit matri suae:

JESUS:
Mulier, ecce filius tuus.

EVANGELISTA:
Deinde dicit discipulo:

JESUS:
Ecce mater tua.

EVANGELISTA:
Et ex illa hora accepit eam discipulus in sua. Postea sciens Jesus quia omnia consummata sunt, ut consummaretur Scriptura, dicit:

JESUS:
Sitio.

EVANGELISTA:
Vas ergo erat positum aceto plenum. Illi autem spongiam plenam aceto hyssopo circumponentes, obtulerunt ori ejus. Cum ergo accepisset Jesus acetum, dixit:

JESUS:
Consummatum est.

EVANGELISTA:
Et inclinato capite tradidit spiritum.

CHORUS:
Qui passus es pro nobis, miserere nobis.

Amen.

John 19: 1-42

EVANGELIST:
Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. And said:

CHORUS:
Hail, King of the Jews!

EVANGELIST:
And they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them:

PILATE:
Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

EVANGELIST:
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them:

PILATE:
Behold the man!

EVANGELIST:
When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying:

CHORUS:
Crucify him, crucify him.

EVANGELIST:
Pilate saith unto them:

PILATE:
Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.

EVANGELIST:
The Jews answered him:

CHORUS:
We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

EVANGELIST:
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid. And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus:

PILATE:
Whence art thou?

EVANGELIST:
But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him:

PILATE:
Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

EVANGELIST:
Jesus answered:

JESUS:
Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that hath delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

EVANGELIST:
And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying:

CHORUS:
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

EVANGELIST:
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews:

PILATE:
Behold your King!

EVANGELIST:
But they cried out:

CHORUS:
Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

EVANGELIST:
Pilate saith unto them:

PILATE:
Shall I crucify your King?

EVANGELIST:
The chief priests answered:

CHORUS:
We have no king but Caesar.

EVANGELIST:
Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate:

CHORUS:
Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

EVANGELIST:
Pilate answered:

PILATE:
What I have written I have written.

EVANGELIST:
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves:

CHORUS:
Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be:

EVANGELIST:
That the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith: They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother:

JESUS:
Woman, behold thy son!

EVANGELIST:
Then saith he to the disciple.

JESUS:
Behold thy mother!

EVANGELIST:
And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith:

JESUS:
I thirst.

EVANGELIST:
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said:

JESUS:
It is finished.

EVANGELIST:
And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

CHORUS:
You who have suffered for us, have mercy upon us.

Amen.

Performers & Credits

Conductor
William Conway

Christus
Matthew Brook
Pilatus
Hugo Hymas

Evangelist Quartet
Rachel Ambrose-Evans – soprano
Jessica Gillingwater – alto
David Lee – tenor
Jon Stainsby – bass

Chorus

Soprano
Christine Buras
Sally Carr
Rachel Thomas

Alto
David Lewis
Jessica Conway
Hannah Leggatt

Tenor
Alasdair Bisset
Max Carsley
Robert Woodford

Bass
Tim Edmundson
James Kennedy
Jonathan Kennedy

Hebrides Ensemble

Oboe
Ruth Contractor

Violin
Zoë Beyers

Bassoon
Ursula Leveaux

Cello
Christian Elliott

Organ
David Gerrard

•••

Video Production
Arms & Legs

Directed by
Ross Addy and Tommy Slack

Motion Graphics & Titles
Bartosz Liszka

Lighting Design
Jamie Heseltine

•••

Supported by

Dunard Fund

Artist Biographies

William Conway
William Conway is an internationally renowned conductor and cellist, whose performances have been described as ‘astonishingly convincing’ (Opera magazine), ‘a tour de force’ (Guardian), with ‘a flair for the unpredictable’ (Financial Times). On the podium, he is known for his conviction, clarity and intelligent musicianship, while his collaborations with Hebrides Ensemble, of whom he is the Artistic Director and founding member, have been praised for their fresh and inspirational approach to programming.

As a conductor, he studied in Helsinki with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and was a finalist and prizewinner in the 1994 Leeds Conductors’ Competition. Since then, he has established himself as a conductor of versatility in chamber, symphonic and operatic repertoire, and has conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, English Sinfonia, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Symphony Orchestras of Cairo, Sofia, Zagreb, de Filharmonie of Flanders, the Belgian orchestra Beethoven Academie, Teatro di Cagliari, Göettingen, Aalborg Sinfonie Orchester and the American Phoenix Symphony Orchestra in all repertoires from baroque to present day.

He made his conducting debut at the 2018 BBC Proms in performances of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. He has conducted many operas including Mozart’s Magic Flute and Figaro, Verdi’s Otello, Puccini’s Tosca and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the double-bill Cav/Pag, Puccini’s Gianni Schicci to Nigel Osborne’s Differences in Demolition and Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies’s Martyrdom of St Magnus. He is a regular guest with many young orchestras including the National Youth orchestras of Scotland and Australia. He teaches conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He is Music Director of Edinburgh Studio Opera and is Artistic Director and Head of Strings at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Linn Records, Unicorn-Kanchana and Delphian Records in a series of highly successful recordings of music by Judith Weir and Nigel Osborne. His recordings with Hebrides Ensemble of music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir James MacMillan have both reached no 3 and no 1 respectively in the classical music charts.

•

Matthew Brook
Matthew Brook has appeared widely as a soloist, and has worked extensively with conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Richard Hickox, Sir Charles Mackerras, Harry Christophers, Christophe Rousset, Paul McCreesh and Sir Mark Elder.

Recent and future highlights include Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Dido and Aeneas with the Handel and Haydn Society, Bach’s St John Passion with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Haydn’s Creation and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Il Re di Scozia Ariodante with the Staatstheater Stuttgart, and on tour with The English Concert, Argante Rinaldo with Ópera de Oviedo, Claudio Agrippina at Teatro de la Maestranza, Handel’s Messiah with Les Violons du Roy in Québec and the Ottawa National Arts Centre Orchestra, a tour of Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging and with Early Music Vancouver, a tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and with Gli Angeli Genève, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time at Festival St Denis, and the roles of Herod and Father in Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis.

On the concert platform, notable performances include Brahms’ Requiem with the St Petersburg Philharmonic; Bach’s B Minor Mass and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with the Dresden Staatskapelle; Nielsen’s Symphony no. 3 with the Hallé Orchestra; Bach’s Mass in B minor and St Matthew Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent; Bach’s St John Passion with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Bach Cantatas with Marcus Creed and the Tonhalle-Orchester, Zurich; Elijah at the Three Choirs Festival with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

•

Hugo Hymas
Hugo Hymas’s career has so far taken him to many different parts of the world and now sees him perform more frequently away than where he is currently based in London. He has taken part in tours across Europe, USA and Asia, and recently made his first trip to Australia to perform the tenor solos in Purcell’s King Arthur with Gabrieli Consort (Paul McCreesh).

Past concert performances include a German tour of Purcell and Handel with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (Kristian Bezuidenhout), Handel’s Messiah in Helsinki with The English Concert (Harry Bicket), Monteverdi’s Vespers and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Dunedin Consort (John Butt), Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with Croatian Barokk Ensemble (Lawrence Cummings), Bach’s B Minor Mass with Münchener Motettenchor (Benedikt Haag) and Handel’s Semele with Monteverdi Choir (Sir John Eliot Gardiner) directed by Thomas Guthrie as a semi-staged concert performance for a tour which brought about his debut at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Hugo has also performed the role of Uriel in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Les Arts Florissants (William Christie) in New York and on tour in France, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium in Sweden with Göteborgs Symfoniker (Andreas Spering), and Handel’s sacred oratorio La Resurrezione with Les Nouveaux Caractères (Sébastien d’Hérin).

Hugo’s opera roles of late include Septimius in Theodora (Handel) for Potsdamer Winteroper, Jupiter in Semele (Handel) with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (Yu Long), and Indian Boy and Fame in The Indian Queen (Purcell) with Opera de Lille (Emmanuelle Haïm). He has also performed the lead tenor roles in Monteverdi’s Il Combatimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas), and Handel’s Acis and Galatea. In 2017 he toured Monteverdi’s three operas – Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, L’incoronazione di Poppea and L’Orfeo – with English Baroque Soloists, which culminated with performances in the Lincoln Centre, New York. Hugo is a keen song recitalist, a former Britten-Pears young artist, and is currently on the ‘Rising Stars’ scheme with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, with whom he has collaborated many times.

Hugo grew up in Cambridge where he sang as a chorister in Great St Mary’s Church Choir. He then studied the clarinet through school after which he joined the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge as a tenor. In 2014 he graduated with an honours degree in Music from the University of Durham.

•

Hebrides Ensemble
With programmes that are diverse, imaginative and inspiring, Hebrides Ensemble has established itself as one of the foremost chamber music collectives in the UK. Co-founded and led by its artistic director, the cellist and conductor William Conway, the Ensemble is renowned for its fresh and intelligent approach to programming, which places contemporary music at the heart of a diverse range of repertoire.

The Ensemble’s flexibility is its strength, drawing its performers from a pool of the most outstanding musicians in the UK and beyond, ensuring the exceptional performance standards for which it has become renowned. This is an international ensemble with its roots in Scottish culture, a collective which performs regularly at venues and festivals throughout the UK and Europe, and is regularly featured in broadcasts for BBC Radio 3. In recent years, the Ensemble has given premieres at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, London’s King’s Place, The Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival and in 2018, made its debut appearance at the BBC Proms.

Hebrides Academy supports the next generation of performers, composers, artistic directors and cultural leaders through its mentoring programme and Hebrides Digital allows audiences around the world to be part of our performances, using live streaming and cutting-edge digital technology.

In October 2019 Hebrides Ensemble released its fourth recording in a series of composer-focused discs with Delphian. Airs from Another Planet: Chamber music and songs by Judith Weir follows discs profiling the works of Nigel Osborne and Peter Maxwell Davies, as well as the first recording of James MacMillan’s Since it was the day of preparation…, which went straight to No 1 in the Specialist Classical Charts.

In December 2019, the Ensemble worked in partnership with Drake Music Scotland and composer Ben Lunn on Diversions, a concert showcasing works by disabled composers and including a new piece for Hebrides Ensemble together with Drake Music Scotland’s Digital Orchestra. The concert was designed with accessibility at the front and centre of the creative process, and the event was recognized with multiple awards at the Scottish Awards for New Music 2020.

•

Dunedin Consort
Dunedin Consort is one of the world’s leading Baroque ensembles, recognised for its vivid and insightful performances and recordings. Formed in 1995 and named after Din Eidyn, the ancient Celtic name for Edinburgh Castle, Dunedin Consort’s ambition is to make early music relevant to the present day. Under the direction of John Butt, the ensemble has earned two coveted Gramophone Awards – for the 2007 recording of Handel’s Messiah and the 2014 recording of Mozart’s Requiem – and a Grammy nomination.

Dunedin Consort performs regularly at major festivals and venues across the UK, giving its BBC Proms debut in 2017 with a performance of Bach’s John Passion. In the same year, Dunedin Consort announced its first residency at London’s Wigmore Hall, complementing its regular series of events at home in Scotland, as well as throughout Europe and beyond. It enjoys close associations with the Edinburgh International Festival and Lammermuir Festival, and broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and BBC Scotland. The group’s growing discography on Linn Records includes Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, both nominated for Gramophone Awards. Other Bach recordings include Mass in B Minor, Violin Concertos, Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, Matthew Passion and John Passion, which was nominated for a Recording of the Year award in both Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. A recording of Handel’s Samson, in its first version of 1743, was released in October 2019 to wide critical acclaim.

Alongside its performance and recording work, Dunedin Consort is committed to a wide-ranging education programme both in schools and in the wider community. This annual programme of activity includes Bridging the Gap (a mentoring scheme for emerging young professional musicians), voice and instrumental clinics for non-professional performers, choral workshops for amateur singers, and an extensive programme of workshops in schools across Scotland. In inspiring and encouraging musical participation, developing vocal skills and fostering a love of classical music, historical performance and new music, Dunedin Consort aims to develop and nurture its potential audience and to encourage the performers of the future.

While Dunedin Consort is committed to performing repertoire from the Baroque and early Classical periods, and to researching specific historical performance projects, it remains an enthusiastic champion of contemporary music. In recent years, the ensemble has commissioned and premiered new music by composers including Stuart MacRae, Ailie Robertson, William Sweeney, Errollyn Wallen, Nico Muhly, Peter Nelson, Stevie Wishart and Sally Beamish. In 2019 it premiered four new co-commissions with the BBC Proms, and in 2021 will premiere Dido’s Ghost, a new opera by Errollyn Wallen, co-commissioned with the Barbican Centre, Mahogany Opera and Buxton International Festival.

Dunedin Consort is grateful to Creative Scotland, Dunard Fund, Binks Trust and Baillie Gifford, as well as the many individual trusts and supporters who generously support its year-round programme.