Bach Netherlands Bach Society Van Veldhoven St. Matthew Passion, Bwv 244 (2011) {hybrid Sacd Eac}

Hearing an album of Bach arias sung by a countertenor may not be essential for every listener. Many of the high arias from Bach's cantatas weren't the kind of operatic pieces that called for a muscular male voice comparable to those that have tackled Handel's arias in similar collections, and Bach, at least much of the time, wrote for female vocalists. If you enjoy countertenor singing, however, this release by Canadian singer Daniel Taylor may be the Bach album of choice.

A truly beautiful and unique tracklist with rarities including Víkingur Ólafsson’s new arrangement for piano of a Bach Cantata, rare transcriptions for guitar, for mandolin and even String Quartet; alongside familiar Bach masterpieces, all played by the world’s greatest classical artists, curated and presented Deutsche Grammophon.

This box set gathers together Karl Richter's stereo recordings of Bach's choral works that were recorded between 1959-1969. Missing is his final, digital St Matt, the 1961 Mass in B Minor (the 1969 "from Japan" recording is included) and an earlier mono Christmas Oratorio (available on Teldec CDs).

Nathalie Stutzmann’s credentials as a Bach singer are well established, as genuine and unmistakable a contralto voice as we’ve heard in his music on record. Now she presents a programme of hand-picked movements (mainly) from the cantata depository as singer-director – a combination of tasks by which, on this evidence, she appears distinctly unfazed.

Thijs van Leer is a Dutch musician, singer, songwriter, composer and producer, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer took up the piano and flute as a child and pursued them at university and music academies. Van Leer achieved success as a solo artist in the Netherlands. His first two solo albums featuring classical flute, Introspection (1972) and Introspection 2 (1975), sold an estimated 1.2 million copies. He has collaborated with various artists, and continues to release albums and perform in various capacities.

Stutzmann performs as soloist and director, imbuing these accounts with personality and vision. Her contralto is distinctive – at once voluptuous and androgynous, with an impressively wide range and sure technique . . . Stutzmann really captures the sublime quality of Bach's sacred music, and the instrumentalists of Orfeo 55 shape the contours and paint the colours of his counterpoint with eloquent grace. The pristine recording throws the details into high relief.