The cast of soloists he has assembled is, without exception, first-rate. Anthony Rolfe Johnson makes an admirable Evangelist, mellifluous or dramatic as the moment demands, Judging the varied pace and timing of recitatives to a nicety, and avoiding self-consciousness or mannerisms; Stephen Varcoe is a young-sounding but dignified Jesus; Cornelius Hauptmann brings character to the role of Pilate and sings the florid aria ''Eilt, ihr angefochtenen Seelen'' with assurance; Michael Chance adds to his fast-growing reputation with a finely controlled ''Es ist vollbracht'', with a vigorous middle section; two sopranos, both with pure boyish voices, take an aria each—Ruth Holton (with a deliciously light flute obbligato) ''Ich folge dir gleichfalls'' and Nancy Argenta (beautifully partnered by flute and oboe de caccia) in ''Zerfliesse, mein Herze''; and a very good tenor, new to me, named Rufus Muller, is untiring in the long and taxing ''Erwage'' aria (in which the gamba line needed to be a little stronger to balance the two viole d'amore).

The chorus singing is splendidly fresh, light (in ''Bist du nicht seiner Junger einer?'') or thrillingly firm-voiced (as in the clamour to crucify Jesus, the thrustful ''Wir haben ein Gesetz'' and the two chromatic crowd outbursts at the start of Part 2); and the orchestral playing is clean, with thoroughly reliable intonation from the baroque wind players. Add very well-balanced recorded sound, and this version of the St John Passion bids fair to become a first choice for the work on records—if, that is, you can accept Gardiner's almost consistently fast speeds. Right from the brisk opening chorus it becomes clear that he has discarded accepted performance traditions for the work and thought it out anew; and one is not surprised to find that overall he lops more than 20 minutes off the normal duration (as exemplified by the Richter/Archiv Produktion recording). The 'scourging' recitative and, particularly, the chorus where the soldiers decide to cast lots for Christ's robe rather than divide it, have never been taken more rapidly. This may be defensible, but to rush through the heart-rending ''Ach, mein Sinn'', crisply clipping its dotted rhythm and forcing the unfortunate Neill Archer to sound breathless, seems to defy the sense of the words. It is quite a relief to find ''Es ist vollbracht'' and the final chorus not being hurried. Certainly so much here is well done that I shall want to return to this performance: perhaps in time I shall get used to Gardiner's unorthodox interpretation.

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone [2/1987]