Bach: Mass in B minor [Import, Original recording reissued]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Andrew Parrott (Conductor), Taverner Consort Choir & Players (Performer), Taverner Consort and Players (Performer), Emily van Evera (Performer), Emma Kirkby (Performer), Rogers Covey-Crump (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Taverner Consort Choir & Players, Taverner Consort and Players, Emily van Evera, Emma Kirkby, Rogers Covey-Crump
• Conductor: Andrew Parrott
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (June 4, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import, Original recording reissued
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B00005RFSB
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,303 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intimate and gorgeous, October 14, 2003

By A Customer

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

This is my favorite recording of the Mass in B Minor. Working on a small scale (one singer per part, as opposed to the more usual larger chorus), Parrott creates a performance that is warm, intimate, and joyous. Kirkby's and Van Evera's sopranos blend beautifully. The alto parts are taken by a boy whose voice is passionate and not all that smooth, which only adds to the overall "human" feeling of the performance. There's a lot of disagreement about whether Bach should be performed "big" or "small." (This is probably very much a matter of personal taste. Parrott's small-scale version of the St. John Passion, for instance, seems thin to me -- I like Suzuki's bigger recording with the Bach Collegium Japan.) But with the B-minor Mass, in this particular version, small works. The richness of the music is still there, but with the grandeur and remoteness of the larger chorus pared away, you're somehow aware that real people (albeit gorgeous-voiced ones) are singing it. Other recordings make me admire the Mass; this is the one that makes me love it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Three Great Choices...( But Now There's Only One!), May 27, 2008

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bach: Mass in B minor (Audio CD)

No performance of Bach's B minor Mass could ever be totally dull, but the recording by Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, which is included in the Brilliant Classics Complete Bach Box, comes close. I listened to part of it last night, and decided to search through other versions in my collection to find the best! A foolish idea, of course, but I dug up the original release on vinyl of Parrott's offering, with the divine Emma Kirkby singing soprano. The "shtick" for that performance was the decision to sing everything, choruses included, one on a part. There were outcries of delight and despair at the time. Hearing it again, after some years, I'd say it sounds amazingly vibrant and musical, with the soprano-alto duets surpassing those of any subsequent performance. I like it so well that I'd buying this re-released CD version immediately.

The "best" is elusive. John Eliot Gardiner's recording of 1990 has by far the most thrilling instrumental passages, and the most emotive overall interpretation. Philippe Herreweghe's more orotund choral sound and instrumental stateliness is wonderful, also. Those are the only three choices worth considering: Parrott, Gardiner, and Herreweghe. A real Bachophile will need to have all three.

Whoa! Same day, afterthought. I forgot the excellent and quite distinct performance conducted by Ton Koopman, who takes the slow and mournful movements more poignantly than anyone else. If a crucified and resurrected B minor is what you crave, then Koopman is your best choice.

Oy! Next day: I've been justly chided for haste in declaring only three recordings worthy of interest. Aside from those three, there are also fine performances by Koopman (noted above), Suzuki, and Leonhardt. I'm also assured that the Van Veldhoven performance is excellent, but I haven't heard it. In short, an embarrassment fo riches.

Added in 2010: I don't want to delete my innocent thoughts of a few years ago, but as of NOW, the choice is a good deal simpler. The B minor Mass performance by the Dunedin Consort is head and shoulders above any other. See my review of it for my reasons.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best of the best, January 10, 2005

By 

Le Frisson (England) - See all my reviews

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

Parrott and Rifkin's approaches, based on the theory of 'one singer per part', cultivate a different kind of taste in Baroque music. People who are used to large choirs might find their versions significantly lacking in grandeur and power at the first listening. But as I said, it's an acquired taste, and once the penetrating clarity of a smaller choir starts to set in, you'll find a completely different Bach, clean, crisp and full of vigour. A perfect antidote to those so called 'interpretations' and mawkish romanticism imposed on the true Baroque. Highly recommended.