Bach B Minor Mass Kyrie Eleison 1

Since its rediscovery and first complete performance in the mid-nineteenth century, Bach's B minor Mass has generally been produced with the large, sometimes gargantuan, performing forces typical of that era in the kinds of ensembles gathered for Mendelssohn's oratorios and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. Twentieth century scholarship has uncovered information about performances of individual movements of the Mass during the composer's lifetime indicating that, in spite of its length, Bach intended it to be a chamber piece for small vocal and instrumental ensembles…

The Ensemble Pygmalion directed by Raphaël Pichon commences its collaboration with Harmonia Mundi with this new recording of J.S. Bach’s lost music to the Köthener Trauermusik (Cöthen funeral music), BWV 244a. Founded in 2006 at the European Bach Festival, Ensemble Pygmalion is a combination of choir and orchestra - all young performers with experience of authentic instruments and period-informed performance. Its repertoire concentrates primarily on Johann Sebastian Bach and Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Nurtured by Sunday radio broadcasts of cantatas in his youth, Michel Corboz very soon developed a deep admiration for Bach, whose music was the guiding thread of his career. He approached every major sacred work, some more than once, always questioning the score and exploring new interpretive options. This album is a selection of the best moments from the passions, masses and oratorios, featuring beautiful vocal soloists such as José van Dam, Sandrine Piau and more. It also includes some instrumental tracks with keyboard concertos by Maria João Pires.

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalog. This 5-CD box of recordings made in Vienna and London brings together supreme choral and vocal works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Strauss, performed by soloists of the stature of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kathleen Ferrier, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, and Hans Hotter.

In 1926 Eugene Jochum made his successful concert debut as a conductor. He acquired a repertory of over 50 operas and conducted concerts all over Germany. The acknowledgment of his excellence led to his appointment as musical director for Berlin radio. His reputation grew particularly in the field of the German Romantic Symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner and was presented with the Brahms medal by the city of Hamburg. This series is a compilation of his complete EMI recordings delivered with exceptional audio quality and artistic integrity.

Gardiner's acclaimed readings of the major Bach choral works are joined by 12 CDs of equally distinguished recordings of Bach cantatas, from Gardiner’s famous "pilgrimage" in 2000, plus the "Magnificat" and "Cantata no. 51".
Included in this 22 disc special release: the classic recordings of the "Christmas Oratorio", the "St. Matthew Passion", the "St. John Passion" and the "Mass in B minor"; a wide selection of 37 cantatas, odes and motets covering the whole church year and other occasions, and including favourites such as "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", "Wachet auf", "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben", and "Ich habe genug".

Now presented complete, Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion’s exceptional Lutheran Mass performances, in this often unjustly neglected genre, remind us of Bach’s telling psychological shift in the early 1730s from ephemeral duty to collating collections of music for posterity. The four parody Missae breves, comprised of a Kyrie and Gloria only, in the north German way, were compiled by Bach from cantata movements he clearly admired and felt could be productively recycled. Then there’s also the Missa of 1733 – the work which Bach offered to the new Elector of Saxony in search of wider recognition and which was to become the blueprint for that summa anthology, the Mass in B minor – now assembled with the others and strengthening the identity of Bach’s Mass oeuvre further.