Easter was otherwise, for me, a date with Bach; and notable in that the St John Passion at St John's, Smith Square over the Easter weekend was the finest live choral performance I've heard in ages. I specify "choral" since the quality of the baroque band Canzona was variable. But Stephen Layton's choir Polyphony were stunning: disciplined, alert, dramatic, with a motivating (but not mechanistic) sense of engine-driven counterpoint.
As for the soloists, Layton used six, and their undoubted star was John Mark Ainsley: an evangelist in whom, like Pilate, you could find no fault. It was perfection: finely phrased and coloured, beautiful in tone, immaculate in diction. Probably the most distinguished singing you could hope to hear, these days, in such a role.