Bach - Mass in B minor / Argenta, Nichols, Chance, Stafford, Milner, W. Evans, Gardiner

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
One of the most frequently mentioned "favorite" works of Bach, the B Minor Mass is not really a functional liturgical work, but an assemblage of movements written over a period of many years. Its grand scale is certainly awesome, but its musical and spiritual unity is more remarkable, considering its origin and the fact that it contains several different compositional styles--not to mention some of Bach's most profound and beautiful music. Performing this work and preserving a sense of its grand design while bringing out the considerable musical details is a challenge that most choirs, orchestras, and conductors are not up to. Almost by consensus, however, John Eliot Gardiner's version is the most successful--and it is indeed a phenomenal recording--at once sumptuous and penetrating, with gorgeous choral and solo singing, and spacious, vibrant sound. --David Vernier

Bach - Mass in B minor / Argenta, Nichols, Chance, Stafford, Milner, W. Evans, Gardiner, Music, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Eliot Gardiner, Nancy Argenta, Michael Chance, The English Baroque Soloists, The Monteverdi Choir, Mary Nichols, Wynford Evans, Howard Milner, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Mass

Bach - Mass in B minor / Argenta, Nichols, Chance, Stafford, Milner, W. Evans, Gardiner
Average customer rating:

Get It While the Recording is Still Available...

The Best

Gardiner's Masterpiece

My Opinion In Brief

Beautiful

Bach - Mass in B minor / Argenta, Nichols, Chance, Stafford, Milner, W. Evans, Gardiner
Johann Sebastian Bach , John Eliot Gardiner , Nancy Argenta , Michael Chance , The English Baroque Soloists , The Monteverdi Choir , Mary Nichols , Wynford Evans , and Howard Milner
Manufacturer: Archiv Produktion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by J.S. Bach | Bach, Johann Sebastian | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B0000057CN
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Kyrie: Chorus: Lord, Have Mercy On Us.
Kyrie: Duet (Soprano - Mezzo-Soprano): Christ, Have Mercy On Us.
Kyrie: Chorus: Lord, Have Mercy On Us.
Gloria: Chorus: Glory Be To God On High.
Gloria: Chorus: And On Earth Peace To Men Of Good Will.
Gloria: Aria (Soprano): We Praise Thee; We Bless Thee; We Adore Thee; We Glorify Thee.
Gloria: Chorus: We Give Thee Thanks For Thy Great Glory.
Gloria: Duet (Soprano - Tenor): Lord God, Heavenly King, God The Almighty Father. O Lord, The Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Most High Lord God, Lamb Of God, Son Of The Father.
Gloria: Chorus: Thou Who Takest Away The Sins Of The World, Have Mercy Upon Us. Thou Who Takest Away The Sins Of The World, Receive Our Prayer.
Gloria: Aria (Alto): Thou Who Sittest At The Right Hand Of The Father, Have Mercy Upon Us.
Gloria: Aria (Bass): For Thou Alone Art The Holy One. Thou Alone Art The Lord. Thou, Jesus Christ, Alone Art The Most High.
Gloria: Chorus: With The Holy Ghost In The Glory Of God The Father. Amen.

Tracks:

Credo: Chorus: I Believe In One God.
Credo: Chorus: I Believe In One God, The Father Almighty...
Credo: Duet (Soprano - Mezzo-Soprano): All In One Lord Jesus Christ...
Credo: Chorus: And Was Incarnate By The Holy Ghost Of The Virgin Mary And Was Made Man.
Credo: Chorus: And Was Crucified Also For Us Under Pontius Pilate...
Credo: Chorus: And The Third Day He Rose Again According To The Scriptures...
Credo: Aria (Bass): And I Believe In The Holy Ghost...
Credo: Chorus: I Acknowledge One Baptism For The Remission Of Sins.
Credo: Chorus: And I Look For The Ressurection Of The Dead...
Sanctus: Chorus: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Of Hosts...
Sanctus: Chorus: Hosanna In The Highest.
Sanctus: Aria (Tenor): Blessed Be He That Cometh In The Name Of The Lord.
Sanctus: Chorus (da capo): Hosanna In The Highest.
Agnus Dei: Aria (Alto): Lamb Of God...
Agnus Dei: Chorus: Grant Us Peace.

Amazon.com essential recording

One of the most frequently mentioned "favorite" works of Bach, the B Minor Mass is not really a functional liturgical work, but an assemblage of movements written over a period of many years. Its grand scale is certainly awesome, but its musical and spiritual unity is more remarkable, considering its origin and the fact that it contains several different compositional styles--not to mention some of Bach's most profound and beautiful music. Performing this work and preserving a sense of its grand design while bringing out the considerable musical details is a challenge that most choirs, orchestras, and conductors are not up to. Almost by consensus, however, John Eliot Gardiner's version is the most successful--and it is indeed a phenomenal recording--at once sumptuous and penetrating, with gorgeous choral and solo singing, and spacious, vibrant sound. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

Get It While the Recording is Still Available..........2007-04-21

Easily one of today's available outstanding Bach choral recordings, Gardiner's work should be marked with a "must have" rating for any Bach enthusiast or for anyone interested in the baroque choral genre. As someone once said, there are so many superlatives about the Mass in B-minor that the work sometimes defies rational description. Surely any work often cited as "the greatest work of western music ever written" can never live up to expectations, and thus it would be natural to expect to be in some small way disappointed by the imperfections found in any performance of the piece. Nevertheless, it's difficult to find any place where Gardiner and the English baroque Soloists let us down. The recording itself is superb, the choir, instrumentation, and the soloists perform with aplomb, and Gardiner's direction make it all come together in silky-smooth sound that makes us forget we are listening to period instruments.

This recording is part of a larger set of recordings done in the early 1980's with Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, including Bach's Magnificat, St. John's Passion, St. Matthew's Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio. There are many recordings of each of these specific pieces ( try doing a search on "the Mass in B-minor" on Amazon and see the number of hits that are pulled up), and there are divergent opinions as to the "best" of these recordings and performances. Often, there are some PEROFRMANCES that are exceptionally well done while the RECORDING itself may not be, and vice-versa. People (and perhaps with good and defendable reason) spend egregious amounts of time debating the specifics of recordings and performances, and it can certainly be difficult (and, unfortunately, hideously EXPENSIVE) to follow these discussions to their logical conclusions and make up your own mind. Although the Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists certainly represent a non-budget-based series of entries, if you will take the time to browse through the reviews, you will likely find that there are few individuals that have much negative to say about any of them. The works represent outstanding achievement in the field of performance, and Deutsche Grammophon's recording expertise clearly shines through in each set. It's difficult to go "wrong" with these recordings, and you may find, like myself, that they become standards by which other performances are judged.

If you are finding the price a bit steep, check to see if any used versions are available. As long as the discs are not scratched, you shouldn't have any trouble with a used copy, and you can build your library further by adding these wonderful works to your collection. The Mass in B-minor is the perfect recording with which to start.

The Best.......2007-01-29

When you hear this music you will want to dance! I was fortunate to hear Bach's Mass in B minor for the first time, via this recording, a couple years ago. I have heard other renditions since, but in my opinion none can compare. Once you hear this interpretation, it is likely you will prefer it too. All the instruments are bright and crisp; rhythms are brisk and articulated despite the tricky ornaments and twists inherent to Bach's music. There is an amazing feeling of everything fitting together. The unpretentious, spirited singing of the soloists and choir wonderfully beguiles their incredible talent. If you skeptically think-or have been conditioned to think, after hearing over affected, slow and solemn recordings of this music-that Bach's Mass in B minor is a boring ultra-religious work, then you need to hear this recording. Gardiner makes it so much more than church music; this is a joyful joining of art with God.

Gardiner's Masterpiece.......2006-10-26

This is the greatest recording
Of the greatest work
Of the greatest composer
That ever was.
If I am biased
John and Johann have made me so.

My Opinion In Brief.......2006-09-20

The Choral singing is stunning and glorious, unfortunately the soloists are not at the same level (sometimes unbelievably the quality is without real feeling or technical perfection or good tone color, in the soloist parts). The overall feeling of this recording is one of icy silvery clarity without intimate warmth and sometimes almost amateurish solo singing. Buy it for the choral singing with period instruments.
The situation concerning the existing recordings of Bach's B Minor Mass is according to me as follows:
Gardiner (ARCHIV): Period instruments version: Choral singing glorious and stunning soloists of much lesser quality and overall feeling very icy and cold.
Herreweghe (HARMONIA MUNDI): Period instrument version. Choral singing is sometimes weak and without great emotional envolvement. Solo singing often of exceptional intense feeling, especially the duet 'Et in unum dominum' (Zomer /Scholl) and the Agnes Dei (Scholl). Often bright brisk tempi,counterpuntal lines clearly demarcated although the back and forth dynamics between the counterpuntal lines it not well done. The overall feeling of this recording is of a warm meditative almost monastic medieval quality, which is not appropriate in my opinion to this great late Baroque work, but which is all the same very pleasing and beautiful and will put you in a state of contemplative rest,an example of how great this Bach work is that it can support so many various interpretations. Buy it for the solo singing.
Klemperer (EMI): Modern instruments. Very slow tempi, often grave and oftentimes too solemn, interpretated as a liturgical work, that is as a mass, which it really is not. (The work as a whole was never labeled as a Mass by Bach, only the earlier Kyrie and Gloria parts were.) The title Mass is a later 19th century publisher's addition since he saw that it was written to the words of the mass. This work is more like a sacred opera, a glorious final statement by Bach praising God and a synthesis of his whole life and of the many perceding periods of musical history. Janet Baker is excellent especially in the Agnes Dei, also the Benedictus is splendid. Buy it if you want a liturgical prayerful intrepretation
Jochim (EMI): Modern instruments.Choral singing splendid at or above the level of the Gardiner recording, all soloists are of exceptional quality, and sing with great warmth and feeling. There are moments when it makes your spine tingle. Performed by a man of great Christian faith and it shows in this interpretation. All things considered it is the best version available, if you can overlook the slightly fussy feeling (but ever so slightly) that the modern instruments create. Buy it if you want one almost perfect modern instrument version.
Rilling (HANNSLER): Modern instruments. It's a toss up between the Jochim version and this splendid version, which one to consider the best. Here the advantage over the Jochim version is that although it's a modern instrument version it is performed by a Bach expert who well knows the differences between a modern instrument version and a period performance and the instuments sound very much like period instruments at the right moments, at musically graphic points and like modern ones at the moments which require fuller tone color(how he did it I really don't know) The solists are a slight notch down compared with the Jochim version. The overall sound is clearer and more transparent than the Jochim version. Buy it if you want one almost perfect modern/period version, with minor flaws in the solo singing.
The Bach B minor Mass is probably the greatest work of music ever written by one of the greatest musicians of Western music and therefore no one version can do this masterpiece justice. It is extremely complex and difficult chorally and architecturally. Here however is on a Scale of 1 to 10 how I would rate the situation:
Jochim 9.7
Rilling 9.5
Herreweghe 9.1
Gardiner 9.0
Klemperer 8.8

Beautiful.......2006-07-31

I have my entire music collection on my computer and sometimes like to put the whole thing on shuffle. The problem is that after something from this plays nearly everything else I have just sounds boring. This is some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard.

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