James MacMillan St Luke Passion, Barbican Centre, London

Extract

James MacMillan's new St Luke Passion is unusual. No longer does the Passion story end in the death of its principal character; there's a postlude that sees Christ resurrected. Neither is it peopled with singers acting out the traditional confrontations between Christ, Pilate and the High Priest; it starts instead with a brief setting of the Annunciation text found at the opening of St Luke's gospel. Unusual too is the small size of the orchestra – no trombones or tubas, one set of timpani as the sole percussion and an organ. Perhaps most surprising, however, is that the roles of Christus and Pilate, and indeed everyone else, are given to the choruses: a children's chorus for Christ, the other choirs acting as narrator.