Trinity Choir/OAE/Layton, St John’s Smith Square, London, review: 'A celebratory blaze'

This was a performance of the whole of Bach's Mass in B minor, which the composer regarded as the summation of his choral achievement

The choir of Trinity College Cambridge (Benjamin Ealovega)

Bach regarded his majestic Mass in B minor as the summation of his choral achievement, and into it, as well as creating new sections, he also recycled smaller works written earlier in his career: the result covers the waterfront of mid-eighteenth century styles, and presents performers with a huge technical challenge. Two weeks ago, under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki, the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment offered a foretaste by preceding a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with a thrilling rendering of the B minor’s ‘Sanctus’.

At St John’s Smith Square, under Stephen Layton’s direction and partnered by the choir of Trinity College Cambridge, the OAE gave us the whole glorious thing. Initially one missed the force and attack of the OAE’s more mature voices – Layton was too gentle with his young singers – but the instrumental virtuosity of the orchestra more than made up for it: each solo aria or duet has a different instrumental accompaniment, and here the flute, horn, oboe and cello dazzled us in turn, while the valveless trumpets set up a celebratory blaze.

The seasoned soloists were soprano Katherine Watson, mezzo Helen Charlston, countertenor Iestyn Davies, tenor Gwilym Bowen, and bass Neal Davies: Bowen’s ‘Benedictus’ had soaring grace, while Iestyn Davies’s ‘Agnus Dei’ offered a moment of exquisite poetry before the closing joyful choral blast.