A mesmerising, real Passion

Europe, now", as the programme puts it. The parents have gathered after a Beslan-style tragedy. They become the audience for a retelling of the Passion story by a troupe of four travelling players. They listen, they watch, and they take part - acting as the chorus and guided through their roles by the troupe.

Parts of it were unbearably moving. There were people crying in the audience - and at Glyndebourne, that's saying something.

Benjamin Britten gave a fascinating lecture on receiving the first Aspen award, about how the way that we hear music today has changed. He cited the St Matthew Passion. Today, we can pop on a recording and there it is, in our homes. In the past, however, it was a rare and special thing to hear it - either annually at Easter or, for most listeners, perhaps once or twice in their lives. I thought of that lecture watching this near-miraculous production. Katie Mitchell and her sensationally good cast give a new sense of the wonder of how directly powerful and relevant this piece and its story can be. It wasn't a good, or even a great, performance; it felt like the Passion actually mattered to these people, and to us - even to a non-Christian such as myself.

It would be invidious to single anyone out, so I will. Mark Padmore has long been the finest Evangelist I have ever heard - and I have heard dozens of St Matthew Passions, which is, I believe, amongst the two or three greatest works of art in history. But here he was not merely a narrator but a participant, helping to heal the emotional wounds of the chorus. Mesmerising. The whole performance was spellbinding. During 'Erbarme dich', Sarah Connolly cradles a grieving father in her arms. One could not but well up.

There were, astonishingly, some boos at the curtain call. Philistinism lives on.

(UPDATE: Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that anyone who didn't like it is a philistine - only those so rude and ignorant as to boo it!)