For many listeners Bach's largest score is uniquely special. Musicologists will continue to argue over the exact forces involved in the composer's own performances, but the St Matthew Passion has proved capable of making an impact in interpretations conceived on widely different scales. Yet with a total of some 50 choristers and 20 members of the Academy of Ancient Music, this performance in the intimate concert hall at Kings Place sometimes felt a little too fierce for its acoustic, while with limited space in which to position the substantial forces, Bach's antiphonal effects did not make their proper mark.

At other points the close connection between performers and audience worked to the music's advantage – notably in the obbligatos for duos or individual players. The period instrumentalists laid a strong orchestral foundation for the complex choral layers, ably provided by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, and the West London Free School, though Bach's occasional addition of a highlighted treble line needed a more focused tone.

Conductor Stephen Cleobury maintained purposeful attention to the orchestral fabric, though the steady increase in the work's overall sense of dramatic tension came mostly from the soloists, a number of whom offered exceptional readings. David Wilson-Johnson's Christus was authoritatively projected, displaying a keen awareness of Jesus's humanity. Joanne Lunn made each of her soprano solos into an intensely personal statement. James Laing's flawless countertenor shaped every phrase with graceful expressivity and, after an indifferent start, Stephan Loges rose to a confident presentation of the bass solos. Most remarkable was the immaculately articulate Evangelist of James Gilchrist, who conveyed his narrative vividly from first to last.

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