Prom 63: 1.09.16 - Bach: Mass in B minor

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  • Eine Alpensinfonie
    Host
    • Nov 2010
    • 20570

    Prom 63: 1.09.16 - Bach: Mass in B minor

    19:30 Thursday 1 Sep 2016
    Royal Albert Hall

    Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor

    Katherine Watson (soprano)
    Tim Mead (countertenor)
    Reinoud Van Mechelen (tenor)
    André Morsch (baritone)
    Les Arts Florissants
    William Christie (conductor)

    During the last four years of his life, Johann Sebastian Bach worked on a piece that he knew would represent the summation of his life's work. In the end, the material of Bach's almighty Mass in B minor was almost two decades in the making - a compilation of some of his finest vocal music woven together with startlingly original new music born of acute inspiration.

    William Christie conducts Bach's Mass with a quartet of soloists and his own ensemble Les Arts Florissants, known for its historically informed and infectiously exciting performances of Baroque music.


    William Christie conducts Les Arts Florissants in a performance of Bach's Mass in B minor.
    Last edited by Eine Alpensinfonie; 02-09-16, 08:08.
  • Eine Alpensinfonie
    Host
    • Nov 2010
    • 20570

    #2
    The website info doesn't make it clear whether or not any choir is involved, though Les Arts Florissants does/can include one.

    Comment

    • ferneyhoughgeliebte
      Gone fishin'
      • Sep 2011
      • 30163

      #3
      Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
      The website info doesn't make it clear whether or not any choir is involved, though Les Arts Florissants does/can include one.
      If it were a OVpP performance, they'd need to mention seven soloists, so I presume it's the full vocal & instrumental ensemble.
      [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

      Comment

      • Tetrachord
        Full Member
        • Apr 2016
        • 267

        #4
        Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
        19:30 Thursday 1 Sep 2016
        Royal Albert Hall

        Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor

        Katherine Watson (soprano)
        Tim Mead (countertenor)
        Reinoud Van Mechelen (tenor)
        André Morsch (baritone)
        Les Arts Florissants
        William Christie (conductor)

        During the last four years of his life, Johann Sebastian Bach worked on a piece that he knew would represent the summation of his life's work. In the end, the material of Bach's almighty Mass in B minor was almost two decades in the making - a compilation of some of his finest vocal music woven together with startlingly original new music born of acute inspiration.

        William Christie conducts Bach's Mass with a quartet of soloists and his own ensemble Les Arts Florissants, known for its historically informed and infectiously exciting performances of Baroque music.
        I'm absolutely looking forward to this - which should be just superb. Les Arts is easily the best period group around today IMO!! And this is one of my desert island works, "B Minor Mass".

        Comment

        • Eine Alpensinfonie
          Host
          • Nov 2010
          • 20570

          #5
          Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
          If it were a OVpP performance, they'd need to mention seven soloists, so I presume it's the full vocal & instrumental ensemble.
          Silly me. Of course'

          Comment

          • doversoul1
            Ex Member
            • Dec 2010
            • 7132

            #6
            If it has to be William Christie & Co., it would have been good if the work chosen had been their name sake. Or if it has to be Bach, it would be (would have been?) good if it were by a Prom’s début artist. Ah, well, that’s the Proms for you (me).
            Last edited by doversoul1; 26-08-16, 08:30.

            Comment

            • BBMmk2
              Late Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 20908

              #7
              I've been looking forward to this one for ages! Bring it on!! :)
              Don’t cry for me
              I go where music was born

              J S Bach 1685-1750

              Comment

              • Padraig
                Full Member
                • Feb 2013
                • 4231

                #8
                Thanks for that E A - I depend on you for upcoming Proms.

                This work could well have been my 'Alpensinfonie', except that I possess only two versions: Karajan with Schwarzkopf, Hoffgen, Gedda and Rehfuss and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Society of the Friends of Music- on three LPs 1959, updated to CD 2005; and JEG 1985, with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists. I don't think any version could replace my early Karajan if only because it was my first, and it astonished me then with its power. Even so, I look forward to reading the verdicts of all who hear this Prom performance.

                Comment

                • Eine Alpensinfonie
                  Host
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 20570

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Padraig View Post
                  ... except that I possess only two versions: Karajan with Schwarzkopf, Hoffgen, Gedda and Rehfuss and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Society of the Friends of Music- on three LPs 1959, updated to CD 2005; and JEG 1985, with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists. I don't think any version could replace my early Karajan if only because it was my first, and it astonished me then with its power. Even so, I look forward to reading the verdicts of all who hear this Prom performance.
                  I also have only two: Minchinger and Rilling. The Munchinger is beautifully recorded, but the choir is rather BBC Singerish (as is Rilling's). I think JEG might be the one for me.

                  Comment

                  • Prommer
                    Full Member
                    • Dec 2010
                    • 1258

                    #10
                    Will be in the Hall for this tonight: a salutary corrective to all this Romantic hogwash I have got in to of late.

                    Love, love, love this work.

                    Comment

                    • subcontrabass
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 2780

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
                      The website info doesn't make it clear whether or not any choir is involved, though Les Arts Florissants does/can include one.
                      The website of Les Arts Florissants does make it clear that this is Choir and Orchestra ( http://www.arts-florissants.com/main...s-b-minor.html )

                      Comment

                      • Eine Alpensinfonie
                        Host
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 20570

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Prommer View Post
                        Will be in the Hall for this tonight: a salutary corrective to all this Romantic hogwash I have got in to of late.

                        Love, love, love this work.
                        Moi aussi, but I love the Romantic hogwash too.

                        Comment

                        • Prommer
                          Full Member
                          • Dec 2010
                          • 1258

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
                          Moi aussi, but I love the Romantic hogwash too.
                          Well, yes, me too! But Bach was aptly named in this context: a cleansing swim in his waters is needed every so often.

                          Comment

                          • Tetrachord
                            Full Member
                            • Apr 2016
                            • 267

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Prommer View Post
                            Will be in the Hall for this tonight: a salutary corrective to all this Romantic hogwash I have got in to of late.

                            Love, love, love this work.
                            I'm very jealous!! But as I write this I'm listening via computer - albeit at unsatisfactorily reduced volume - and I'm not generally happy with Christie's reading; tempi at times too fast, a rather 'cold' reading and sometimes mannerisms reminiscent more of Rameau than Bach. Flawless playing, of course, but there's something of passion missing here. We're not at the end yet and he may pull a rabbit out of the hat, but so far I'm not enamored. It's like he's over-earnest, or something... Those wide-open ornamentations are just irritating!! And sometimes this reading is somewhat leaden and lacking drama. And this IS a dramatic work.

                            Disappointing as I'm a HUGE fan of Les Arts and "B Minor Mass" is a desert-island work!!

                            Thanks to advice from somebody here I've been able to increase the volume but it hasn't changed my opinion of this performance.
                            Last edited by Tetrachord; 01-09-16, 19:55.

                            Comment

                            • Eine Alpensinfonie
                              Host
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 20570

                              #15
                              This is b****y phenominal. I was afraid of BBC Singers-type choral singing, but this is something else.

                              (Still don't like those pseudo-HIPP toothpaste-squeezing crescendos on every note longer than a semiquaver though.)

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