Christmas isn’t Christmas without Messiah and “Easter isn’t Easter without Bach,” as Bach Akademie Australia board member Wendy McLeod said. Founder and Artistic Director Madeleine Easton leads an ensemble of 12 instrumentalists and eight singers in Alleluja, an Easter narrative of music that expresses the anguish of death and the ecstasy of resurrection in the way that only Johann Sebastian Bach can.

Madeleine Easton leads Bach Akademie Australia at Alleluja – An Easter Celebration. Photograph supplied

Before Easter, there is the crucifixion. The opening cantata, Christ lag in Todes Banden (Christ lay in the bonds of death), BWV 4 takes us there. With the voice-doubling brass instruments omitted, the orchestra plays the brief Sinfonia, articulating the recurring, crushing semitone motif, expressing twisting pain, anguish, and the absolute depths of desolation. Easton pauses on the tierce de picardie that closes this movement, moving from minor to major key, before the sopranos begin their cantus firmus of Verse 1. This is a celebratory chorus, which incongruously contains the title words. The sopranos begin with a slow and steadfast line, which moves to busily contracting rhythms. The solo arias are sung by both voices in each...