TURNING THE BRIGHT LIGHTS ONTO SOMBER EASTER WEEK
BERKELEY—I don’t know if it was more revelation or intoxication. But American Bach’s lucid performance of the St. John Passion offered gobs of both. Yes, even Bach can be intoxicating with his lesser-known Passion oratorio—–usually running in 2nd place to the St. Matthew Passion, which for me is the greatest baroque opera of all, even in a sacred-concert version. The St. John came much earlier, dealing with the suffering/death of Christ in a more detached, consolatory and lyrical way. Clearly,…