Handel's Brockes Passion resurrected by Harry Bicket and The English Concert

Handel’s Brockes Passion is his 1716 setting of the much-set Passion text by Barthold Brockes which was once revered, but now seems an overheated curiosity. Of its 34 arias, 24 are allocated to the “Daughter of Sion” and other “Faithful Souls”. The choruses are often very short, swift turba outbursts, and there are only five short chorales, so the solo voice dominates. The text at time is almost lurid, Brockes unsparing in depicting Christ’s suffering and its effect on others. So the claim of the slender concert note that “This deeply contemplative and meditative work... reflects Handel at his most spiritual and reflective” is wide of the mark. There is that element but there is also a good deal of lively invention, for voices and instruments. There was an intensity to the execution here that was sustained, despite a near three hour span, even though only a third of the arias require a da capo.

Handel scholar Winton Dean is rightly critical of Brockes’ text, but curiously dismissive of some of Handel’s music, concluding “In the Brockes Passion Handel comes nearest to challenging Bach, and retires discomfited”. Yet it was a likely influence on moments in Bach’s St John Passion, and Handel thought well enough of his score to raid it for later ones. Unsuited to London, it was performed at least ten times in German cities. If not a match for the finest Handel oratorios, it is much more than a curiosity of his catalogue.

This English Concert performance, part of the 2024 London Handel Festival, persuaded us of its calibre, with excellent singing and playing throughout. Conductor Harry Bicket maintained flowing tempi in slower music and assured rhythmic lift in the faster passages. The English Concert was tight in ensemble playing and delivered some fine solo playing, notably from first violin Huw Daniel, cellist Joseph Crouch and, for the final aria, oboist Clara Espinosa Encinas.

Of the singers, sopranos Hilary Cronin (Daughter of Sion) and Nardus Williams (Faithful Soul) carried the largest workload. Cronin has an outstandingly lovely basic sound, always alluring but with tonal weight in reserve to call upon. Apart from the occasional neglect of leading consonants, where more attack would have been welcome in the angry music, she was immaculate, sustaining her gleaming tone and lyrical line even when four of her arias were almost in succession. Williams too has a pure sound, and sang with much vocal charm. She also had several arias and arioso passages, and if there was not quite the vocal variety to differentiate them enough, each made its emotional mark in the narrative. Although singing less than the sopranos, the rich, weighty and true contralto of Jess Dandy was a welcome addition to the vocal colour and skill on display, for she sang with poise and power.

Tenor Josh Lovell made a very affecting Peter, devastating when singing of his ungeheurer Schmerz (“unbearable agony”) and equally fine in his later contributions. The Evangelist does not carry the large narrative burden of Bach’s Passions, but tenor Robert Murray made the most of each intervention, singing from the pulpit. Bass Ashley Riches brought his customary authority to the role of Jesus, as did Morgan Pearse to his oppressors, Caiphas and Pilate, his ringing baritone ideally implacable in manner.

This fine performance also formed part of The English Concert’s “Handel for All” series, so was filmed to be preserved online for future free access – alongside, eventually, all the rest of Handel’s works.