Jos van Veldhoven can be certain that his new account of the St John Passion is the most beautifully packaged on the market. As with his plushly decked-out Christmas Oratorio recording from 2002 (1/04), the performance is cushioned by informative essays and sharp reproductions of paintings and objects from the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht (presented here as meditations, as it were, almost as ‘stations of the cross’). Such extras can illuminate an understanding of the music so long as the performance lives up to expectations. Thankfully it does and of the three large-scale Bach choral works recorded by Veldhoven and Channel Classics, this is arguably the most satisfying.

Veldhoven brings his distinctive angle to the St John by presenting it as a notional ‘first version’. Among some judicious tinkering, he ignores Bach’s last-minute addition of flutes, which the composer felt compelled to include before the premiere in April 1724, and promotes a feeling of ‘musica reservata’, or at least an atmosphere of private devotion where the one-to-a-part ensemble allows for a distilled immediacy in the arias and flexible and varied choral contributions. Indeed, this is a reading which goes to prove that the argument for size in Bach’s chorus – large or small – is better fought on musical grounds than musicological ones.

The Netherlands Bach Society, and Veldhoven especially, are in general more drawn to rhetorical effect than poetic instinct. The chorales are sometimes over-pointed and even precious, and string articulation rather unyielding, but little detracts from a profoundly luminous sense throughout, led by the supremely clear-sighted Evangelist of Gerd Türk (who also excels for Suzuki). Veldhoven’s pacing evolves less easily as he sets some curious extremes of tempo: the opening chorus is grindingly deliberate but still searing and intense while ‘Ach, mein Sinn’ – that most extraordinary of veiled chaconnes – is rather too literal to make the mark it should. Charles Daniels is as unsettled here as he is glowing in a wonderful ‘Erwage’.

The other voices, soloists and ripienists alike, make a fine and colourful impression, especially in the crowd scenes where Veldhoven presents them as a more questing, equivocal and three-dimensional group than the incessant hectoring of an uncompromising lynch mob. Soprano Caroline Stam undertakes her responsibilities as principal vocal soloist with ready experience and warmth of sentiment. Her ‘Ich folge’ makes its point well (Ruth Holton for Gardiner still has my vote) but Peter de Groot is a comparatively pale presence despite an affecting ‘Es ist vollbracht’. Bas Ramselaar is the pick of the crop. ‘Betrachte’ is controlled, expressive and disarmingly tender. Those who have the budget cantata series under Pieter van Leusink for Brilliant Classics will know about this gem of a Bach bass-baritone.

Ramselaar is just one reason why this latest St John holds a special place in a notable catalogue of which, in their different ways, Gardiner, Fasolis (Arts Music, 9/99), Higginbottom (Naxos, 6/03) and Suzuki are all leading lights. Veldhoven is as thoughtful and effective as ever (down to the exquisite planning of the continuo where, rightly, both the harpsichord and organ play an integral part), even if he never quite takes flight and allows the music to be expressed on the widest emotional canvas. The Super Audio sound is positively diverting, suitably rich and all-embracing.