PETER Seymour directed a deeply satisfying performance of Bach’s St John Passion, with superb individual contributions.

Joshua Ellicott took the demanding Evangelist role. His full engagement with the narrative was emphasised as he also performed all the tenor arias: for instance, after recounting Apostle Peter’s sudden horror on realising he has denied Jesus for the third time, launching straight into Peter’s remorseful Ach, Mein Sinn. This was lucid, dramatic storytelling, ravishingly sung.

Peter Harvey conveyed the words of Jesus with fittingly calm, compassionate self-assurance. He also undertook the bass arias: in Erwäge, Wie Sein Blutgefärbter Rücken he convincingly melded its sorrow with its grateful "restoration to joy".

Soprano Wendy Goodson was uplifting in Ich Folge Dir Gleichfalls, and Lauren MacLeod’s alto aria skilfully contrasted reflective sorrow with Handelian triumph. In the recitatives, Stuart O’Hara nicely caught Pilate’s exasperation.

The Yorkshire Bach Choir were on top form, with impeccable intonation and ensemble. Their steeply raked staging allowed them to produce an arresting wall of sound when required; chorales were classy, the long lines of the closing movements confidently sustained. Here the crowd baying for Jesus’s crucifixion sounded more civilized than usual: the mob not totally convinced in their self-justifying bravado.

The Yorkshire Baroque Soloists—for this work, an intimate band of only 11 players—were their usual accomplished, sophisticated and polished selves. Unobtrusively directing from the harpsichord, Peter Seymour chose apt tempi, and artfully orchestrated the work’s architecture: Jesus’s quiet decease here had time-stopping impact, drawing the audience into rapt, silent concentration.