Considering The Passion of Ramakrishna is concerned with Indian mysticism – in particular the life, death and transfiguration of Sri Ramakrishna, the 19th-century mystic whose message inspired the creation of a Ramakrishna mission – Philip Glass’s oratorio is surprisingly unassuming and down-to-earth. Forget the biblical labyrinth of his 1980s Gandhi-inspired opera Satyagraha; this 2006 piece simplifies structures and textures to focus attention back on Ramakrishna’s texts and Glass fades the work into still, serene silence a lean-and-mean 44 minutes after it started.

All of which is a good thing. Too much new Glass has felt flabby around the edges, maximalist orchestral padding encasing minimalist harmonic sequences. But even the Prologue, with its decidedly un-Glassian brass fanfares and brutal percussion thwacks, tells you that dealing with Ramakrishna obliged Glass to look beyond his customary box of melodic and harmonic get-out-of-jail-free cards. Those familiar chord sequences and residual traces of Glass’s manufactured style of orchestration soon assert themselves, of course, but with a far lighter touch than usual.

Having the whole chorus – especially the excellent Pacific Chorale – portray Ramakrishna was musically and symbolically a winning decision. Multiple voices lend the impression that Ramakrishna was indeed one with all humanity; musically Glass restricts himself to uncomplicated speech contours, melismatic decoration notable by its absence. Heralded by Ramakrishna’s death, the emotional temperature abruptly rises near the end as Glass broadens harmonies and dramatic gesturing. His serene coda is a precis of all that has gone before; a fitting conclusion to his most thoughtful and inventive recent piece.