Bach Mass in B Minor

[NAM]

What are the best recordings of bach mass in b minor?

 

[Plato]

Mine is the John Eliot Gardiner one from the mid-80's.

I like it a lot.

Falstaff

 

[NAM]

Mine is the John Eliot Gardiner one from the mid-80's.I like it a lot.

Falstaff

I was listening to Gardiner one this morning. Spotify has it listed as a 2012 DG release but it's monteverdi choir and English baroque soloists so may be a reissue of the 80's recording?

 

[tones]

To me, Gardiner's 1980s recording for Archiv is the best. However, there is also John Butt's more recent recording for Linn. Normally I avoid one-voice-per-part recordings like the plague, since the unpleasant experience of hearing Joshua Rifkin's massacre of some of the cantatas, but the Butt recording is outstanding.

This:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/J-S-Bach-Christmas-Oratorio-Matthew/dp/B00008RWR9/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375602541&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=bach+gardiner+sacred

is excellent value.

This:

[video=youtube;7F7TVM8m95Y]

is also pretty good.

 

[chris217]

Mine is the John Eliot Gardiner one from the mid-80's.I like it a lot.

Falstaff

+1 for JEG. It is the recording I keep coming back to.

However, Building a Library on Radio 3 gives the one voice per part recording by Andrew Parrott as its first choice.

 

[khapahk]

Another vote for JEG. My "return to" B Minor Mass recording and, indeed, my "return to" piece of choral music.

k

 

[Plato]

I was listening to Gardiner one this morning. Spotify has it listed as a 2012 DG release but it's monteverdi choir and English baroque soloists so may be a reissue of the 80's recording?

It's the one on Archiv that "tones" refers to.

Plato

 

[Guest]

Another vote for the John Butt recording on Linn, I was lucky enough to catch this ensemble doing it at St Martin's in the Fields, the once voice per part approach is really electrifying.

I also enjoy Joshua Rifkin's version, the original OVPP, its a bit on the edge and not fabulously recorded but again, an electrifying experience a world away from the 'cast of thousands' approach of yesteryear.

Gardiner is good in a solid kind of way but isn't my choice for regular listening. On vinyl I have a soft spot for the old ECO/Somary recording from the 70s, some lovely singing by Robert Tear et all and pretty snappy performances all round.

 

[tones]

some lovely singing by Robert Tear

:shock: That's possible? I've never heard a recording by Robert Tear that didn't reduce me to his surname in plurality - this strange strangled sort of sound. As a result, all recordings involving him need a positive balance of other good singers to overcome the huge disadvantage before I'd buy them. But perhaps he had a good day that day.

P.S. Thinks: it's on vinyl - perhaps one distortion cancelled out the other... :minikev:

P.P.S. One case where the outstanding contributions of the others outweighs Tear's contribution dragging it down:

Paul Esswood's For he is like a refiner's fire is, IMHO, the best on record, positively spine-chilling in its delivery. And nobody can touch Janet Baker for He was despisèd.

 

[monad]

Joshua Rifkin made a interesting recording of the B. In his minimalist/reductionist style. Based on research of how it was played at the time. Was the big thing in the 80's. Can sound skeletal and austere for some. But its an interesting alternative.

 

[josh]

What about Hickox with the Collegium Musicum 90 on Chandos, or Koopman with the Amsterdam Baroque Choir on Erato? They've been recommended to me but does anyone know how they compare to Gardiner?

 

[JANDL100]

I have the DG Gardiner and it is very good in a fairly no-nonsense and impressively forthright way.

But if I just had to have one recording ... I know it's old fashioned and anachronistic in these HIP days, and the recording is a bit murky and pacing is a bit slow ... But it's Rilling / Stuttgart on CBS/Sony for my desert island!

Rilling just nails the grandeur, emotional depth and sheer thrilling excitement of it all for me. I've not heard another performance that even comes close, Gardiner just sounds like he's trying to impress and show off in comparison.

 

[themadlatvian]

I like the Gardiner also. :^

 

[josh]

Thanks guys. It seems like Gardiner is the safest bet to start off with.

Has anyone heard the other versions I mentioned?

 

[gingermrkettle]

Really give Herreweghe a try, the trumpet playing in particular is wonderful.