Bach: Sacred Masterpieces [Box set, Collector's Edition]

Hermann Prey (Performer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Karl Richter (Conductor), Muchener Bach-Orchester (Orchestra), Munich Bach Orchestra (Orchestra), Antonia Fahberg (Performer), Evelyn Lear (Performer), Gundula Janowitz (Performer), Irmgard Seefried (Performer), Maria Stader (Performer), Ursula Buckel (Performer), Ernst Haefliger (Performer), Fritz Wunderlich (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Hermann Prey, Antonia Fahberg, Evelyn Lear, Gundula Janowitz, Irmgard Seefried, et al.
• Orchestra: Muchener Bach-Orchester, Munich Bach Orchestra
• Conductor: Karl Richter
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (October 10, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 10
• Format: Box set, Collector's Edition
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Archiv Produktion
• ASIN: B00004SAAW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,881 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #36 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Passions
  • #48 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Magnificats

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peerless Pefection, April 28, 2001

By 

Avrohom Leichtling (Monsey, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bach: Sacred Masterpieces (Audio CD)

These recordings, absolutely without question, are among the most perfect performances of JS Bach you will ever hear, dating as they do from the heyday of the DGG Archiv Produktion in the late 1950's and early 60s. From every point of view, Karl Richter was a superlative Bach conductor, and the performances he achieved, orchestrally and vocally, are without equal. He understood exactly how this music was to be played, and then achieved the impossible. If this set of recordings does not "make the case" for any of the works included, absolutely no others will. Richter's orchestra performs on "modern instruments" - which, for 21st century ears is just fine. The music itself comes through gloriously. DGG's engineers have preserved the originals such that they sound absolutely magnificent. This was certainly a restoration of great love and care.

Even if you can't afford it, you should also spring for the DGG re-issue of Richter's 26 CD set (!) of the Cantatas as well. ..., it's an unbelievable bargin. The performances, there too, are superlative.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Musical Offering from Richter, August 22, 2005

By 

K. Parent (Daejeon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bach: Sacred Masterpieces (Audio CD)

First of all, I don't own this box set but I do own each of the individual recordings it contains. The box would have been considerably cheaper and would take less precious space on my shelves.

However, for each of the works presented here, Richter's versions are my favourite, and I have 40+ recordings of the Mass alone (ten or fewer of the other compositions). These aren't period instruments HIP recordings, but neither are they over-indulgent romantic slop. What they are are *supremely* musical readings. Even some HIP purists keep these in their collection. The very successful HIP conductor Suzuki even sings their praises, and every now and then I'll spot a trait of Richter's popping up in a Suzuki recording.

Unless you really really need HIP performances and have already made up your mind against anything that isn't, this box is highly recommended.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bach und Richter-Zwei Meistern, July 18, 2002

By 

David Glenn Lebut Jr. (Gilbert, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bach: Sacred Masterpieces (Audio CD)

In my opinion, this is THE BEST compilation of Richter's recordings of Bach's sacred works. With one exception, I think it has captured Richter's association with the Muenchener Bach-Orchester und Muenchener Bach-Chor and his long familiarity with the German tradition of Bach interpretation he learned in the center most associated with that great figure of German music-the Thomaskirche Leipzig-at its peak.

If I would change one thing in the recordings presented in this compilation, it would be to exchange the 1958 recording of the Matthaeus-Passion with that recorded in the 1970s.