Bach: Christmas Oratorio
Polyphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Stephen Layton
St John’s, Smith Square. 22 December 2024

The Christmas Festival at St John’s, Smith Square (now rather boringly renamed as Smith Square Hall) has been a key part of London’s Christmas music season for nearly 40 years. The climax of these festivals has been the traditional two performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Messiah from Polyphony and, in recent years, the choir of Trinity College Cambridge, conducted by the artistic director of the festival, Stephen Layton. Having recently left his post of Director of Music at Trinity College, both events now feature Polyphony together with the period instrumentalists of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Only the first three Parts (cantatas) were performed, those composed for Christmas Day and the following two days, the other three performed on New Year’s Day, the first Sunday of the new year, and Epiphany. The time made up before the interval after Part 1 by Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto” composed per la notte di Natale. Although not published until 20 years before Bach’s piece, it was probably first performed about 45 years earlier. I would have preferred to hear another of Bach’s Christmas cantatas rather than the Corelli. It brought the first half to a very subdued conclusion with Corelli’s delicate little rising cadence at the end of the pastorale conclusion to his multi-section concerto, the bulk of which bears no discernable connection with the Nativity. Of course, the second half then opened with another pastorale movement with the Sinfonia to Part 2 of the Christmas Concerto. During the interval, the opened external doors on either side of the audience were, as at the start of the concert, on a cold and very windy day a telling reminder of how cold and draughty it must have been if you were a shepherd tending your flocks on Christmas Eve.

The vocal soloists were tenor James Gilchrist as the genial storyteller, countertenor Iestyn Davies, Ashley Riches, bass, and a bit part from soprano Anna Dennis who, without Part Four, just had one duet and a shared recitative to sing. Just before the start, Iestyn Davies made a slightly curious appearance on stage to promote a festival he was running in November 2025, tickets for which would go on sale sometime in June. It was lovely to hear the eternal Evangelist James Gilchrist, a regular at these performances, still going strong, despite having spent the previous evening singing Handel in Poland. He has a way of expressing the text of the recitatives in a very personal and engaging manner. He articulated the florid tenor lines in Part 2 Aria Frohe Hirten, eilt, ach eilet beautifully.

Bass Ashley Riches was standing in for Neal Davies and made a powerful contribution with his recitatives and arias, notably the Part 1 Großer Herr, o starker König. Iestyn Davies couldn’t match the vocal power of Ashley Riches or the compelling stage manner of James Gilchrist, but his Messa di voce in the Part 2 aria Schlafe, mein Liebster, genieße der Ruh’ was beautifully controlled. The 14 singers of Polyphony were on their usual highly professional form. I liked the way they were positioned, with the four sopranos centred in front of the bass singers with the (female) altos and tenor on either side of the basses, rather than the more usual placement of sopranos and alto in front of the tenors and basses. This layout reinforces Baroque music’s usual emphasis on the upper and lower voices which sound more focussed when positioned in the centre of a choir.

Stephen Layton approaches Bach in what seems to be a very personal way, his interpretations always revealing and insightful. His conducting style varies from relaxed to occasional bursts of energy which makes for an interesting spectacle when viewed from the audience. One of the key features of the six cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio is Bach’s use of instrumental colour, notable in these three Parts, with the use of pairs of oboes d’amore and da caccia, the former in Part 1, the latter in Part 2 where the combine with the two oboes in the distinctive accompaniment of several sections. Key instrumental honours must first go to continuo cellist Andrew Skidmore who had several moments of very rapid playing in both the Bach and Corelli. He was supported in all but the most flamboyant passages by bass player Cecelia Bruggemeyer. Other instrumental contributions came from Margaret Faultless, violin, Lisa Beznosiuk, flute, Leo Duaet and Sarah Humphries, oboes and d’amore, and Paul Sharp, trumpet, standing in for the listed David Blackadder.