J. S. Scott

Over a decade spanning the years 1730 to 1741, Bach assembled and published in four volumes those keyboard works he had written to date that he held to be most representative of his art. The six partitas comprised Book I of the Clavierübung (“Keyboard Practice”); the Italian Concerto and B-Minor Overture in the French Style comprised Book II. Book III, which came to be called the “German Organ Mass,” contained 21 Lutheran hymn chorale preludes and four duets, framed by a grand opening prelude and a closing five-voice triple fugue. Book IV consisted of but a single work, the Goldberg Variations. Playing on a 2008 copy of a 1774 Johann Heinrich Gräbner der Jüngere harpsichord built by Montreal maker Yves Beaupré, Alexander Weimann here gives us the two works that comprise Book II.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Despite his Italian name, Mario Bernardi was a native-born Canadian and one of his country's leading conductors. His family sent him back to the Old Country to study music as a child, though, and this was through the entirety of World War II. He studied piano, organ, and composition at the Manzato Conservatory in Treviso (1938 - 1945) and the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice (1945). Young Bernardi returned to Canada after the war to complete his studies in piano and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (1948 - 1951).

Some of Bach's greatest hits (BWV 565, 543, 582, 542, 653 & 767), very convincingly played by Heinz Balli on the formidable Thomas Schott organ (Anno Domini 1630) of the Klosterkirche in Muri, Aargau, Switzerland. Great sound quality!

Maria João Pires (b. 1944) recorded this recital some years ago; it is thankfully back in the catalog now, finally available again after so many years, thanks to Apex. There are many aspects of the recording which show their age considering the general approach to Bach on the piano in the year 2013—the slower tempos in the fast movements, the thicker orchestral textures, the expressive use of rubato, the numerous hairpin phrasings, especially in the strings. Yet the performances hold up well simply because Pires and Corboz are so in tune with the characters of each of these individual works.

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