At nearly two hours of storytelling, full of recitatives and call-and-responses between soloists and the choir, Bach’s St John Passion (1724) is a mammoth task for the ensemble and the listener. But conducted by Masaaki Suzuki, who founded the Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, this performance expertly turns what could be a repetitive and meandering listen into an urgent, prescient drama, full of moments both painful and beautiful.

Starting with gutpunch cries of “Herr!” (“Lord!”), the small, 16-piece choir immediately grab us with a sound that is crisp, energised, and undeniably German. This sound carries through the entire work, with consonants so crunchy it sounds like they’re right in your ear. As Jesus, German bass Christian Immler steals the show, with a resonant tone that conveys both divine power and emotional vulnerability.

The orchestral ensemble are completed with gentle chapel organ (Haru Kitamika) and harpsichord (Masato Suzuki) that never intrude, even as they accompany the many recitatives. However, placed at the front of the stage, the woodwind section do overpower at times, especially the piercing period oboes. In the moments when we are treated to just the string ensemble, it is welcome.

As to whether this work should be given such a dramatic outing is a matter of taste: at its commission, Bach’s employers had specifically stipulated that the work “should not make an operatic impression, but rather invite the listener to devotion,” (according to the programme notes by Lindsay Kemp). But with such a theatrical performance, and in a secular presentation, would it be too much to ask for us at the Proms to have surtitles, as if it were an opera? That is the clarity of spirit in which the homophonic, German work was created, for its liturgical purpose.

Tickets for all 73 Proms are available from just £8 on the BBC Proms 2024 website.