Prom 26 (2.8.12): Bach – Mass in B minor

[heliocentric]

My favourite of all the recordings that I've heard of this work is Parrott's. He uses five voices, supported by a further trio of ripienists to strengthen some of the louder passages. Rifkin did the same sort of thing in his pioneering recording, which is a little too smooth for me.

Yes, the Parrott version is very nice although it does feature David Thomas whose voice I have something of an aversion to.

[Mary Chambers]

But in the last performance I was fortunate enough to sing in, we had trumpeters who held their instruments in one hand, stood with their legs apart and balanced themselves flamboyantly with the opposite hand on hip, like this:



I was very disappointed that these trumpeters did not do that (but I suppose it makes little difference to the sound they make.)

They're doing that in the perfomance of Handel by Le Concert Spirituel from the Proms that I'm sort of watching on BBC2 now. Looks very camp!

[Nick Armstrong]

They're doing that in the perfomance of Handel by Le Concert Spirituel from the Proms that I'm sort of watching on BBC2 now. Looks very camp!

Very camp, Mary!! The cue given by Niquet who takes camp to whole new levels. What a... [Maybe I'd better continue on the relevant Prom thread!]

[jean]

Was that a trickle of applause I heard at the end of the Credo?

(It's the Amen. It always confuses them. You're lucky if you can get past the one at the end of the Gloria.)

[Nick Armstrong]

Hate it when you sit on the fence, HS !

[Tony Halstead]

[David-G]

Surely a concert cannot be an argument.

In my own view, the best reason for performing these works on period instruments is that they sound so much better that way.

[JohnSkelton]

all those viols?

HS

What viols?

[JohnSkelton]

In my own view, the best reason for performing these works on period instruments is that they sound so much better that way.

+1

[heliocentric]

"the best reason for performing these works on period instruments is that they sound so much better that way"

When they're played so that they sound better, naturally: that horn in the "Quoniam" really didn't sound good at all, but to use the fact that a horn player had an off day as an "argument" against the instruments she and everyone else in the orchestra was playing is, well, silly, isn't it?

[JohnSkelton]

Sorry - I meant violins (but the sound was a bit vile!)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Historically informed? With four double basses and all those violins?

A valid point, one that was also raised in #23. (The Dresden orchestra of the mid 18th Century was larger than Bach's Leipzig ensemble, but I can't find any exact details about the size. The Dresden Choir of the time numbered IIRC eleven singers, however.)

I didn't think it was a "travesty of a concert", though, HS: if anything, it was too smooth and beautiful for my preferences (I like a bit of grit to produce Bach's pearls) - the Quoniam excepted. (The Bass solo was as strained as the Horn player.)

[Tony Halstead]

Writing in (on?) 'The Arts Desk' Charlotte Gardner found plenty to enjoy, especially the playing of the horns (sic):

The orchestra was on equally brilliant form, everyone flitting seamlessly between the many juxtapositions of wildly differing styles, and the horns particularly stepping up to their starring florid roles with bright, fearless warmth. As B Minor Mass performances go, this one was life-affirming in the extreme.