Given the importance Mr. Golijov places on reaching and moving his listeners, it was inexplicable that Lincoln Center provided the audience with neither a translation of the texts nor projected surtitles at the first night's performance. Yes, this works tells one of the most familiar of all stories. But the text draws not just from the Gospel of St. Mark but also the Lamentations of Jeremiah, selected psalms and poetry.

For example, at last night's performance, after the crucifixion of Jesus was enacted by a dancer, Reynaldo Gonz�les Fern�ndez, while the chorus shouted and the ferocious percussion erupted, the music grew still and the affecting Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza sang an elegiac melody accompanied by sublimely mournful modal harmonies in the orchestras. How many in the audience did not know that this was a setting of the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead?

This lapse marred the performance. Otherwise, Lincoln Center deserves praise for presenting this comprehensive look at Mr. Golijov's work.

Puzzlingly and quite frustratingly, there was no libretto or supertitles provided this time around. That's a real shame, especially since the soloists and chorus singers alike keep shifting character and perspective in the narrative, which to me is one of the most intriguing and moving elements of Golijov's re-envisioning of the traditional Passion structure. I don't speak Spanish, but I know the piece fairly well by now, and even so I found myself missing that component. It's really a shame that people just experiencing the piece for the first time would miss that whole element. ETA: I've been informed today by Lincoln Center that there was no libretto available yesterday due to "an error on Lincoln Center's part," but that they WILL have libretti on hand this evening. How regrettable nonetheless.