BaL 11.02.17 - Bach: Mass in B minor

[BBMmk2]

Coming up shortly.

Damn forgot it!

[MickyD]

I can't see the Robert King/King's Consort all-male voices version from Hyperion in the list.

[doversoul1]

Only one recording of Agnus dei ...

[Thropplenoggin]

A wonderful overview of how performing traditions have changed over time and a new recording to investigate (available on Qobuz for subscribers: http://player.qobuz.com/#!/album/0761203785124) The 'Cum Sancto Spiritu' in the second Gardiner recording sounded ludicrously hard-driven. I'd been listening to different versions all week and decided to add Parrott's OVPP to my copy of JEG's earlier recording and Herreweghe's Harmonia Mundi recording.

[Beef Oven!]

Listened up to the last ten minutes when I got a phone call from overseas that I couldn’t ignore

Was really enjoying this very informative and interesting BaL. Who won?

[doversoul1]

Listened up to the last ten minutes when I got a phone call from overseas that I couldn’t ignore

Was really enjoying this very informative and interesting BaL. Who won?

Building a Library: Bach's B Minor Mass
Recommended recording:

Maria Keohane (soprano), Joanne Lunn (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Jan Kobow (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass), Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)
CPO 7778512 (2Hybrid SACD)

Other recommended recordings:
Below is a shortlist of other recordings which Nick Kenyon also liked, although we can’t guarantee the availability of these discs.

Jennifer Smith (soprano), Michael Chance (counter-tenor), Nico van der Meel (tenor), Harry van der Kamp (bass), Netherlands Chamber Choir, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Members, Orchestra Of The 18th Century, Frans Bruggen (conductor)
DECCA 4800098

Emma Kirkby (soprano I), Emily Van Evera (soprano II), Panito Iconomou (alto), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), David Thomas (bass), Solisten Des Tolzer Knabenchors, Taverner Consort, Players, Andrew Parrott (conductor)
ERATO 5619982 (2CD)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dnhd0

[Bryn]

Listened up to the last ten minutes when I got a phone call from overseas that I couldn’t ignore

Was really enjoying this very informative and interesting BaL. Who won?

Here you go:

Building a Library: Bach's B Minor Mass

Recommended recording: Maria Keohane (soprano), Joanne Lunn (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Jan Kobow (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass), Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)
CPO 7778512 (2Hybrid SACD)

[DracoM]

Have to say the Andrew Parrott version really caught my ear. Loved the clean lines and spare geology of the instrumentation.

[BBMmk2]

Didn't like JEGGER's DG recording then?

[Beef Oven!]

Building a Library: Bach's B Minor Mass
Recommended recording:

Maria Keohane (soprano), Joanne Lunn (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Jan Kobow (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass), Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (conductor)
CPO 7778512 (2Hybrid SACD)

Other recommended recordings:
Below is a shortlist of other recordings which Nick Kenyon also liked, although we can’t guarantee the availability of these discs.

Jennifer Smith (soprano), Michael Chance (counter-tenor), Nico van der Meel (tenor), Harry van der Kamp (bass), Netherlands Chamber Choir, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Members, Orchestra Of The 18th Century, Frans Bruggen (conductor)
DECCA 4800098

Emma Kirkby (soprano I), Emily Van Evera (soprano II), Panito Iconomou (alto), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), David Thomas (bass), Solisten Des Tolzer Knabenchors, Taverner Consort, Players, Andrew Parrott (conductor)
ERATO 5619982 (2CD)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dnhd0

Thank you very much, doversoul.

[Thropplenoggin]

Have to say the Andrew Parrott version really caught my ear. Loved the clean lines and spare geology of the instrumentation.

It can be had very reasonably: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...w+parrott+bach

[Pianoman]

My sort of BAL this, the perfect mixture of scholarship, insight and a genuine love of the recorded history of the work. I happen to agree with his conclusions but would have enjoyed it even if i hadn't !

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Didn't like JEGGER's DG recording then?

Well, he preferred it to the 2013 recording (and, if I understood him correctly, to the Herreweghe and Suzuki approaches).

I agree with Thropple's summary of the BaL (and of the newer JEGgers version) - the best BaL NK has ever done, IMO. I will probably get the Mortensen pair at some time, but I still very firmly adore the Parrott recording (and am very annoyed that no record company thought it worth their while to record his St Matt Pass). A great pity that Panito Iconomou's breath-takingly beautiful Agnus Dei wasn't given air time. And the bargain box with Leonhardt feels even more tempting now.

(AND - although I concede that these things are very relative! - Karajan in 1954 still sounds more "authentic" than Richter's a decade later.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My sort of BAL this, the perfect mixture of scholarship, insight and a genuine love of the recorded history of the work. I happen to agree with his conclusions but would have enjoyed it even if i hadn't !

[ardcarp]

The Parrott has long been primus inter pares of OVPP versions IMO. It is really hard, however, for this format to be as satisfactory in a live performance (either for singers or audience) as the chamber choir format. The B minor is just too heavily scored. Three or four singers to a part seems ideal...unless you like the big chorus sound. Unfashionable though it is, I've been blown away by the latter on several occasions.