Exploring Bach's B Minor Mass

The Dunedin Consort's recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor revisits the spectacular individual virtuosity that made the Messiah recording so successful. This is the premiere recording of the work in the new Breitkopf edition, edited by Joshua Rifkin, a leading thinker in authentic period performance, who fully endorses John Butt's interpretation.

…Bach's Mass in B Minor is undoubtedly his most spectacular choral work and the Dunedin Consort's soloist-led performance enables a level of clarity and expression that is not traditionally a feature of modern choral performance…

Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B Minor (Breitkopf & Härtel Edition)
Dunedin Consort & Players / John Butt
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz: 1,87 GB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Linn Records # CKD 254 | Country/Year: UK 2006
Genre: Classical, Sacred | Style: Baroque, Vocal | Source: Linn

"…Many excellent recordings of this monumental work cater for different tastes and priorities. Some have more consistent line-ups of soloists, equally impressive choirs (of varying sizes) and comparably strong artistic direction. Although an excellent one voice-per-part version is nothing new, Butt's insightful direction and scholarship, integrated with the Dunedin's extremely accomplished instrumental playing and consort singing, amount to an enthralling and revelatory collective interpretation of the Mass in B minor - perhaps the most probing since Andrew Parrott's explosive 1985 version" ~Grammophone

This recording of Bach's great Mass in B Minor has none of the mannered control and deadening pace of other recordings I've heard. It is satisfyingly passionate and exuberant. The production is vibrant - turn up the volume – each voice and each instrument can be distinctly heard. The chorus pieces are startlingly clear. If you own only one copy of Mass in B Minor this is the one.