Stephen Layton's gripping St John Passion in Auckland

Stephen Layton returns to Auckland to continue his series of Bach's choral masterpieces with the APO. 

...it was the Bach pieces that were the undoubted highlights, particularly the radiant contribution of Sara Macliver.

The Mass in B minor was completed in 1749, the year before Bach’s death. Much of the work consists of music Bach composed much earlier in his life (the Kyrie and Gloria from one of the Lutheran Masses). The sections he added latter were among the last things he wrote before he died.

Pour la dernière soirée du Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, programme Haydn/J.C. Bach/Mozart/Haendel à Shoreditch Church, par le City of London Sinfonia et le chœur Polyphony dirigés par Stephen Layton : une clôture de festival réussie.

Stephen Layton conducts Haydn and Handel, and is joined by soprano Sara Macliver for Bach and Mozart for a joyful evening. 

A star-studded group of soloists and a wonderful choir make for an interesting, if not always convincing, interpretation of Bach's joyous oratorio.