Bach: Mass in B minor / McNair, Ziegler, Simpson, Aler, Stone, Paul; Shaw

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Robert Shaw's reading of the B Minor Mass is, in one sense at least, just what one would expect: sober and purposeful, beautifully shaped (Shaw is a master architect), it centers on the chorus. Like all of Shaw's choruses, the Atlanta group has that trademark richness of body and blend, and it sings with utter unanimity as though it were one great voice. Shaw opts for marginally broader tempos than those found in most period-instrument performances but is nowhere near as glacial as some interpreters. Yet oddly enough, the approach seems more idealized, and less passionate and expressive, than one might expect from a conductor famous for giving his singers adrenaline rushes. Proof again that one should expect the unexpected from Shaw, as well as the expected. It's part of his fascination. --Ted Libbey

Bach: Mass in B minor / McNair, Ziegler, Simpson, Aler, Stone, Paul; Shaw, Music, Johann Sebastian Bach, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw, Sylvia McNair, Delores Ziegler, Marietta Simpson, John Aler, William Simpson, Thomas Paul, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Mass

Bach: Mass in B minor / McNair, Ziegler, Simpson, Aler, Stone, Paul; Shaw
Average customer rating:

Not to detract from Zeidler but my History of Shaw is longer!

Interesting but not quite great

Bigger and Better Bach

Indescribably Beautiful and Ingenious

Even 200 stars would not be enough

Bach: Mass in B minor / McNair, Ziegler, Simpson, Aler, Stone, Paul; Shaw
Johann Sebastian Bach , Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus , Robert Shaw , Sylvia McNair , Delores Ziegler , Marietta Simpson , John Aler , William Simpson , and Thomas Paul
Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000003CWJ
Release Date: 1990-10-10

Tracks:

Kyrie
Gloria

Tracks:

II. Symbolum Nicenum
III. Sanctus
IV. Osanna In Excelsis
Benedictus
Osanna In Excelsis
Agnus Dei
Dona Nobis Pacem

Amazon.com

Robert Shaw's reading of the B Minor Mass is, in one sense at least, just what one would expect: sober and purposeful, beautifully shaped (Shaw is a master architect), it centers on the chorus. Like all of Shaw's choruses, the Atlanta group has that trademark richness of body and blend, and it sings with utter unanimity as though it were one great voice. Shaw opts for marginally broader tempos than those found in most period-instrument performances but is nowhere near as glacial as some interpreters. Yet oddly enough, the approach seems more idealized, and less passionate and expressive, than one might expect from a conductor famous for giving his singers adrenaline rushes. Proof again that one should expect the unexpected from Shaw, as well as the expected. It's part of his fascination. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Not to detract from Zeidler but my History of Shaw is longer!.......2005-07-13

Whenever I chance to listening to the "Kyrie Eleison, Dona Nobis Pacem, Sanctus...SAHnctus...SAHNCTOOS!" I must admit they are so deeply entrenched into my bloody emotions...They move from deep in the Pit of my Stomach, to my heart, back to my Spinal-column, finally into my wee bits of Cerebreal Memory! Since 1970's, I first began to listen to Shaw's glorious 33 1/3 RCA Recording: It either sent cold chills or warm thoughts start me to singing or meditating!

Finally in mid-1970's in Westminister Choir College, we began to rehearse in the Cavernous Temple University Cathedral with its' reverb of 35-40 seconds! Alongside those awesome soloists from NYC, adding to the Orchestra from NY Philarmonic, we thoroughly enjoyed heading: Tommy Pyle, Ara Bebarian, Florence Kopplev, and tenor Seth McCoy! Whenever we took a break I had chances to chat with Tom Pyle or Seth McCoy. They gave great Respect, Love and Admiration for Sir Robert. I finally began to understand him as both a kind person and tremendously gifted-human Being...The Only one of his kind!

When we first recorded, "The Christmas Nativity" in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, I often caught a glimpse of tears trickling down his expressive face, near the ending of Dona Nobis Pacem! He both gave all of himself and asked his singers to do as much from themselves! With fond memories, retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Interesting but not quite great.......2004-03-02

This recording is interesting in that Robert Shaw took a one-voice-to-a-section balance for some of the choruses rather than using massed forces throughout. I like the effect, but am ready to admit that it's not quite kosher. In addition, all of his soloists are excellent except for bass Thomas Paul, a longtime NYC veteran of the Bach-Mozart circuit, who just was not in good voice here. The problem is that, even more so than Sir Georg Solti, Shaw makes "the crooked straight and the rough places plain," sacrificing the exciting edginess of Bach's counterpoint in favor of more homogenous textures. As the performance went on, I found myself more and more engaged by the soloists and less and less by the chorus....not a good thing in a work that is about 80% choral!

Of the existing versions, John Eliot Gardiner's is probably the best, but if you seek out the old Peter Schreier recording on Philips you will be rewarded by a performance whose rhythmic and textual riches will delight you again and again. If you want a somewhat smoother Mass, the Solti recording has more enlivened orchestral and choral playing, though it borders on the over-reverent in tone and Bel Canto in style.

Bigger and Better Bach.......2002-12-13

A great piano pedagogue once said "there are two types of people who play Bach: those who use pedal and those who don't." I find the same is true in listening to Bach Oratorios such as the Passions, Magnificat, and The B Minor Mass. There are some who find Robert Shaw's immense, knock your socks off, blow the roof off the joint interpretation to be utter blasphemy. Then there are others who say "we've heard it on period instruments, but it sounds better with 250 singers!" Or in other words, "if Bach had a pedal he would have used it."

Shaw's performance of the Mass is certainly the grandest, and by that, most impressive recording on the market. The Kyrie is stunning and the Gloria magnificent. But the Sanctus is out of this world. This recording is worth the purchase for the choral, orchestral, and solo performances in this movement alone. I applaud Shaw for successfully pulling a mass chorus through such a harsh yet delicate work. The tempo at times drags a little, but with the size of choir and orchestra being used it is common to take such liberties. This is a wonderful CD set and will surely be a prized collection. So pedal that prelude all you want, pianists!

Indescribably Beautiful and Ingenious.......2002-04-27

This remains the best recording of the B minor mass that I have ever heard. Each and every phrase soars to new levels. This recording, and of course, this mass, uplift the listener spiritually and intellectually. I own two other recordings of this mass, another by Robert Shaw with his own chorale and another with Herbert von Karajan. This second Robert Shaw recording, although wonderful, remains inferior to this Atlanta recording. I especially love the Credo, which very accurately portrays the trinity in its canonical form along with the unity of the father and the son with the "Et in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum." No recording more convincingly captures the reader's emotions and intellect in a spiritual ecstasy than this Robert Shaw Recording. Enjoy!

Even 200 stars would not be enough.......2000-10-22

Two hundred is probably a conservative lower bound on the likely number of times that Robert Shaw performed this monumental work over his considerable artistic lifetime. In the process, which covers a career that began with his Collegiate Chorale in 1941, then the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1948, then his tenure at the Cleveland Orchestra, as chorus director and assistant conductor under George Szell, then his appointment as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1968, and ultimately his frequent choral workshops in New York resulting in Carnegie Hall performances, this was one of his most frequently performed works. On various tours with these musical organizations, Shaw carried this masterpiece throughout the country and around the world.

In his authorized biography, "Dear People," written by Joseph Musselman (a former Shaw chorister who later achieved his own musical reknown as a choral music practitioner), there is a wealth of anecdotes about how his performances of this work could reduce folks to tears, from Alaskan Aleuts to college kids everywhere to Soviet apparatchiks at the height of the Cold War. One of the most telling anecdotes regarding his mastery, as well as his unassuming modesty in the face of it all, occurred after a performance that must have really jelled. Following the concluding "Dona Nobis Pacem" of the Bm Mass, Shaw left the podium and darted behind the curtain, awaiting the applause. He waited, and waited some more. Finally, not understanding why it was that the applause never arrived, he poked his head out from behind the curtain, only to find both the audience and the musicians facing each other and bawling their eyes out from what must have been a rendering of "Dona Nobis Pacem" for all time, in terms of its ability to open these tear-duct floodgates.

I read that anecdote in "Dear People" and listen to this recording for posterity and can only conclude that no one could top Shaw in this work, which, over a period of many years, I've finally come around to conclude in my own mind, is what may well be the finest contribution to what we call civilization. I have three other highly-regarded recordings of the Bm Mass, by Karl Richter, John Eliot Gardner, and Ifor Jones leading the Bethlehem Bach Choir, the only group who is remotely close to Shaw in terms of performance realizations. Each of them is fine in its way, and in its performance practices (whether "authentic instruments" or "modern," or "massive" choral resources vs. "reduced" forces). Each communicates the importance of the work, and I do not consider them useless duplication for a work this significant.

But when I want to be moved by the work, to truly be reduced to a quivering mass of jelly, this Shaw recording is always the one I turn to. His "Dona Nobis Pacem" grants me a serenity and quality of peace that no other performance can match.

Bob Zeidler

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