This publication is obviously an event, especially since Raphaël Pichon was able to present the work several times in 2021 despite the pandemic. Surrounded by Julian Prégardien as evangelist, and, among the soloists, Sabine Devieilhe, Lucile Richardot, Tim Mead and Stéphane Degout (Jésus), the French conductor imposes a very “chamber” vision, not minimalist (in numbers), but internalized, of a human and sacred drama, which avoids monumentalism. Julian Prégardien, the evangelist of the moment, has a lot to do with this meditative atmosphere which takes precedence over an exacerbated theatricality of a narrative framework where Pichon melts the episodes into each other. There are however irritants: we do not know the circumstances of the recording, any more than we do not know, sometimes, who is singing, the soloists being duplicated. In Buss und Reu, Lucile Richardot is far from moving. Similarly, Stéphane Degout has had a plethora of more relevant jobs than that of Jesus… There remains this touching humility which, nevertheless, does not cause a discographic revolution.
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