Globe and Mail-The St. Matthew Passion-"Why eight singers can be as good as 80"

Tafelmusik and Les Voix Baroques performed this massive work with the minimal forces recommended more than two decades ago by Joshua Rifkin, who proposed putting just one voice on each solo part and using the combined solo voices for the choir sections (plus three voices for the points at which Bach runs a chorale tune beneath the main chorus).
The eight soloists appeared as members of Montreal's Les Voix Baroques, though all but two appear to be based on the other side of the Atlantic. They were all strong voices and gave full sound even to Bach's most robust choruses, in part because eight good singers are bound to have a more pointed attack than 80."