Customer Reviews

Bach: Mass in B minor

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best version available of Bach's B Minor Mass. There's no production that get close to it. Recordings like the ones made by Ton Koopman, Netherlands Bach Society, Cantus Cölln, Masaaki Suzuki and Marc Minkowski are very good but never reach the vocal and instrumental quality of Herreweghe's Collegium Vocale. A complete mystic experience. Forget all the old romantic versions with enormous choirs, opera singers and Symphonic Orchestras. Herreweghe once again demostrate the way that Bach's sacred music is meant to perform. Throw to fire all the wagnerian orchestras and conductors that still want to play Bach with full of vibrato strings, thonderous metals and high imposted voices. Awake and see the truth in the authentic baroque period performances.

Along with the two extant passions, the B minor mass is probably the most famous of Bach's big choral works, and this recording really provides an amazing way of getting to know it. It is extremely unlikely that the mass was ever performed complete in Bach's lifetime (or was intended for such a performance), and it's not necessarily a bad idea to listen to the different parts separately; they all have rather distinct moods. Herreweghe and his ensemble present a genuinely moving performance, extremely clear and crisply articulated. Andreas Scholl's 'Agnus Dei' has to be one of the greatest renditions of this famous piece (despite his sometimes disturbingly varying pronunciation of the Latin), far outranking the others I have heard, including those by such luminaries as Michael Chance.

Top notch vocal soloists enhance the listening experience of this musical masterpiece. The director, who specializes in Bach, has produced a meaningful performance. The booklet that comes with the CDs, includes the English translation of the work and provides interest details of the composer's life. We will enjoy hearing this many times.

This is now my favorite recording of this masterpiece. I like the transparency of the voices and the nimbleness of the performance. I have several recordings of the B Minor Mass that feature larger forces, which now all sound clunky and overblown when compared to this recording.

My first reaction to this recording was in several respects rather negative. After several hours of intensive listening, I feel better about it, but still with some reservations.

First the bad things: The voices are too often buried deep under the orchestra. The cellos and basses are generally too light in relation to the upper strings. They need to come forward. The bassoons are often too smooth. They need more bite. When the violins play softly, they sometimes sound uncertain about what they are supposed to do next. Articulation is sometimes choppy in the middle wind parts. I like Bach's music played more aggressively at the beat. Sometimes parts or all of the ensemble seem to be lagging, which tends to take the edge off the performance. There is a wonderful contralto voice -- if only she could learn to pronounce Latin: peccati, piccati, peccita, miserera, mesirari, nabis....

The good things: They have the right idea about scale and attitude, they make an honest effort to do it in the spirit of good baroque. The general ambiance is right, enough reverberation to sound like a real performance in a real Romanesque cathedral without getting spongy. The violas are excellent throughout. The voices are always on pitch. The vocal dynamics are excellent, both solos and choir. The solo vocal ornamentation is very well done, with admirable restraint in the spirit of the times. In many places, where the orchestra and voices finally get in balance at a proper tempo, the performance soars into the absolute sublime.

The package is beautifully done. A lot of real artistic talent went into its design. Some solid background and biographical information in French, English and German. The excellent graphics, including reproductions of great paintings, are scattered throughout the different languages so that it is sometimes difficult to tell what graphic belongs to what.

Better sound engineering would have made a difference; this is below the usual Harmonia Mundi standards. The problems with the cellos and basses are certainly to be written against the recording engineers. Probably also the poor balance between voices and orchestra. The sound balance and pickup is better in the second half than the first. Someone must have recognized the problem and adjusted the mikes.

All in all, it falls short of perfect, but with all its problems it may yet be the best performance presently available.