Bach: Mass in B Minor [Import]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Marc Minkowski (Conductor), Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble (Orchestra), Lucy Crowe (Performer), Joanne Lunn (Performer), Julia Lezhneva (Performer), Blandine Staskiewicz (Performer), Nathalie Stutzmann (Performer), Terry Wey (Performer), Colin Balzer (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Lucy Crowe, Joanne Lunn, Julia Lezhneva, Blandine Staskiewicz, Nathalie Stutzmann, et al.
• Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
• Conductor: Marc Minkowski
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (March 31, 2009)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Naive
• ASIN: B001JPB9LE
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,650 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Kyrie. Kyrie eleison

2. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Kyrie. Christe eleison

3. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Kyrie. Kyrie eleison

4. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Gloria in excelsis

5. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Et in terra pax

6. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Laudamus te

7. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Gratias agimus tibi

8. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Domine Deus

9. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Qui tollis peccata mundi

10. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Gloria. Qui sedes ad dextram patris

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Credo in unum Deum

2. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Patrem omnipotentem

3. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Et in unum Dominum

4. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Et incarnatus est

5. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Crucifixus

6. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Et resurrexit

7. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Et in spiritum sanctum Dominum

8. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Confiteor

9. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Credo. Et expecto

10. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Sanctus. Sanctus

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Philly.com, David Patrick Stearns, March 15, 2009

So much wonderful Bach is on CD these days, these excellent recordings lack a top recommendation if only because of the ample competition. Dip into most any three minutes of the Brandenburg recordings and your jaw might drop at the virtuosity. But the Swiss Baroque Soloists on Naxos or Concerto Italiano on Naive produce a similar reaction and then some. The new Richard Egarr recording has the considerable advantage of SACD sound, though Egarr's own harpsichord isn't as well recorded as on his recent, excellent recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I.

Because Marc Minkowski has been such an important figure on the early-music front for so long, one can't help approach his recording with particular anticipation. It doesn't trump the best of the others (Bach Collegium Japan on Bis), but occupies its own niche. Minkowski is interested in the piece's architectural attributes, which he apprehends with vocally pure, often minimally inflected performances from 10 soloists instead of a conventional choir. But when emotion is clearly called for, he delivers it with minimum restraint. Also, his soloists are often singers you'd want to hear under most circumstances.

Contralto Nathalie Stutzmann's "Agnus Dei" is one of the most emotionally riveting versions ever recorded.

Product Description

Marc Minkowski's first recording of Bach! Bach's Mass in B minor is one of the most famous masterpieces of sacred music of all time, and this recording presents the B-minor Mass in its "original" version, i.e. with a vocal ensemble of 10 soloists. The CD-book features a limited edition format of 2 CDs + 100-page booklet on laid paper.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh, Exciting, OVPP, March 31, 2009

By 

R. Gerard (Pennsylvania USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bach: Mass in B Minor (Audio CD)

It seems as though Joshua Rifkin's theory that Bach performed his choral works with one voice per part (OVPP) has been cemented in standard repertoire. This release is likely to be ranked among historically informed, though not OVPP, recordings generally regarded as gold standards: Gardiner and Herreweghe.

What sets this set apart from the rest is not simply it's use of OVPP (indeed, it's been done before: the very first OVPP Bach recording was Rifkin's B-Minor Mass, followed by Andrew Parrott, then Cantus Colln), but because the singers in Minkowski's consort have the ability to sing as a unit and as soloists. The fatal flaw on many OVPP recordings (McCreesh's St. Matthew Passion included) is the tendency to use singers who function well only as a soloist or part of the ensemble. Minkowski has chosen well-known singers, yet pays close attention to how well they blend together as a unit, while as soloists, they express with the most hearfelt devotion and understanding the text they are singing.

This is Minkowski's first recording of Bach, and what a spectacular debut! He's proven himself a competent Handelian, brilliant conductor of Rameau, and I can only hope he offers more Bach in the near future (a new St. Matthew or St. John Passion perhaps?)

As for the conducting itself, Minkowski is not one who is known for moderate tempi. The tempi here are brisk, but for some reason they do not seem rushed. They seem exciting. Compare for instance the opening chorus of the "Gloria," and how differently Konrad Junghanel and Marc Minkowski bring out the colors at relatively fast speeds. Many might criticize Junghanel (an excellent conductor nonetheless) of rushing and making the chorus seem underpowered and anemic, while Minkowski's never loses its majesty, forward momentum, and almost dancelike quality.

Like in Herreweghe's recording, Minkowski's basso continuo has real PRESENCE. A must for any concerted work of Baroque repetoire, the basso continuo line must have presence and the performers must be able to be creative- to improvise their parts with impressive originality. Such efforts have been made in the astonishing opera recordings by Rene Jacobs, and one would wish for the same efforts to be applied to religious music- and Minkowski has done it. Minkowski plays with the cello/bass accompaniment in the continuo a bit to a achieve a greater sense of variety and drama within the choruses, for example, in the Dona Nobis and Pleni Sunt Coeli fugues.

One could not wish for better soloists, and this is indeed the key to a good OVPP record. Special mention goes to bass Christian Immler and Nathalie Stutzmann, whose Agnus Dei is one of the most stunning I've heard.

It is easily one of my new favorites in the Bach discography, and no serious collector of 'the father of modern music' should be without it.

8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo Minkowski...!, March 31, 2009

By 

dalmatian - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bach: Mass in B Minor (Audio CD)

The above review has said all I wanted to say...the most exciting and moving recording of Bach's eternal masterpiece I have heard in a long time!

5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the best, December 28, 2009

By 

L. Polgar (Laguna Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bach: Mass in B Minor (Audio CD)

Don't even think about it: BUY THIS RECORDING TODAY! Truly amazing. The most beautiful music by Bach and a triumph for the music world.