Edinburgh International Festival opens with Golijov’s stunning rendition of the Passion, plus the best of August’s classical concerts

Edinburgh International Festival: La Pasión Según San Marcos ★★★★★

“Rituals that unite us” is the theme of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, a fitting and necessary theme when social divisions seem so stark and insurmountable. A musical retelling of the story of Christianity’s sacrificial victim who took on the sins of the world is certainly a good way to launch such a theme, and the EIF is actually starting with two: on Sunday comes Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and on Saturday we hear the Pasión Según San Marcos – the Passion According to St Mark – by the Argentinian/Jewish composer Osvaldo Golijov.

It would be hard to imagine two more different versions of the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion. Where Bach is stately, lofty and sad, Golijov is harsh and earthy – but no less moving. Crowded on the stage was a surprising mix of performers the likes of which I have never seen at Usher Hall. In the background were the combined voices of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and the National Youth Choir of Scotland. In front of them was a group of Latin American musicians playing drums, berimbau (a stretched string played with a bow) and the caxixia basket full of pebbles – and guitars of various kinds. In front of them were string and brass players from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The sheer sound made by this menagerie was astonishing, full of the energy of stamping feet and swaying hips – except at solemn moments when the thin, tremulous sound of the accordion or the serene psalmody of the strings took over.

Ahead of them, a constant back-and-forth of soloists retold the story. Sometimes it was in tones of pious sadness, as in Luciana Souza’s deep, flamenco-like lament for Christ, sometimes in mocking sarcasm, as when three singers from the Schola Cantorum stepped forward to point the finger at Judas Iscariot. The singer and dancer Reynaldo González Fernández, dressed in peasant roughness (in contrast to the dazzling whiteness of Souza’s costume), brought a guttural folkloric sound suggestive of something even older than Christianity. The capoeira dancer Ponciano Almeida conjured images of the apostle Peter, caught in the net of Christ’s command to follow him, and of Christ himself on the cross.

As impressive and moving as they were, the real emotional centre of the Passion was in the angry or pleading voice of the people, represented by those two wonderful choirs in the background. The young Scottish singers gave nothing to the Venezuelans in terms of dance, swinging energy and delight in the Spanish words of the text. The final procession to Golgotha ​​for the Crucifixion, under the assured baton of the Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro, felt like a carnival – which was shocking, but it revealed something about the day’s events that is usually decorously hidden. As the mournful Kaddish (Jewish Prayer for the Dead) died away, it seemed as if ancient history had become fresh and new, and yet timeless. No wonder the applause for this astonishing and heart-rending spectacle continued. IH

The FEI continues until August 25th: eif.co.uk

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