The greatest procession of mass movements ever composed merits the best line-up of soloists, both vocal and instrumental, as well as the perfect ensemble – small in size, big and rich in sound where needed – and inspired direction. That it was likely to get them seemed obvious from the advertised names, but last night, as always, Peter Whelan inspired everyone to go beyond what we might have imagined.
He applies pressure points imperceptibly everywhere so that Bach opens out from period-style devotion to something more operatic, above all in the first choruses of the B minor Mass and the Passions. After the grave, supernatural initial summons, this Kyrie grew from flowing but unhurried beginnings to a powerful climax, simply astonishing from a choir of 10 – including the soloists, as in the IBO’s best of Messiahs at the Wigmore Hall – and receded. In the Gloria’s outer celebrations, they seemed to shout their joy – I mean that in a good sense – and you could even hear invisible harp glissandos in the coruscating excitement. The double-choir swings of the Sanctus still sounded rich and heaven-ascending, backed by three glorious trumpeters (Darren Moore, Paul Bosworth and Sam Pierce). The end really did crown the work, Dona nobis pacem moving with ideal grace, in the religious sense, and growing out of the Agnus Dei. 
Which was always going to be the emotional culmination of the work’s plaintive side given the countertenor voice-in-a-million of Hugh Cutting. This is a sound, with built in resonance unlike any other of his kind I’ve heard, that makes the audience hold its breath and goes on to stun with the longest, most perfectly controlled of phrases and operatic turns of the screw. The unison violins led by Kinga Ujszazi were his equal in lines of beauty, and in his first solo, “Qui sedes“, oboist Andreas Helm made an effortlessly elaborating partner (pictured above by IBO).
Cutting blended magically with soprano Rachel Redmond, so obviously loving every minute of it, as did she with mezzo Katie Bray – also vibrant and secure in “Laudamus te” – and with tenor Anthony Gregory, welcome back after his perfect part in the Wigmore Messiah. Another return in full glory came from bass Matthew Brook, a singular Christus in the IBO’s 2024 St Matthew Passion, and ringing with clearly-worded affirmation. His standing partners in "Quoniam tu solus" were bassoonists Lisa Goldberg and Fergus Butt and expert wielder of the corno da caccia Anneke Scott, making her framing tones resonate in the fine acoustics of Christ Church Cathedral (pictured below by IBO. How it was for those further back, I can’t judge; we had a ringside seat on the vividness of it all). 
Flute Miriam Kaczor haunted two of the most exquisite numbers, joined by Elisabeth Vogel in the first of them, and every member of the choir deserves a laurel wreath too. Perhaps one more tenor and bass would have helped in some of the welters, but that's a small quibble. This was another supreme achievement from Whelan’s people, one of the great glories not just of the Irish music scene but of baroque ensembles worldwide; it simply doesn’t get better than this.
- The IBO and Whelan perform Handel's Messiah on 6 December and Bach's Christmas Oratorio on 12 December, both in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
- More classical reviews on theartsdesk
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