Bach, J S - Mass in B Minor - Breitkopf & Härtel Editition, edited by J Rifkin (2006) - Butt, John

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'EDITOR'S CHOICE', GRAMOPHONE

Best Recording 2010, High Fidelity

"This performance demands to be heard." (Gramophone, 2010)

"This is the first recording of Joshua Rifkin's 2006 edition of the B minor mass, a revision of his first 1980 edition, using single voices in the Kyrie, Gloria and Creed and ripienists in the six-part Sanctus, the double choir Osanna and the Dona nobis pacem. This constantly changing texture makes us listen afresh to the beauty of Bach's astonishing vocal writing. It's a joy to hear the principal singers - Susan Hamilton, Cecilia Osmond, Margot Oitzinger, Thomas Hobbs and Matthew Brook - working together as a chorus, moving like a precision machine, each line clear and uncluttered under John Butt's meticulous direction. A definitive recording." (The Observer, Stephen Pritchard, 2010)

"John Butt and his Dunedin Consort & Players are back with another large-scale Bach masterpiece, performed in accordance with Joshua Rifkin's fascinating, exhaustively-researched arguments for employing one-voice-to-a-part in the choral works. This also is the premiere recording using Rifkin's recently published scholarly edition of the B minor Mass, which purports to have cleared away "improvements" inflicted on the score after Bach's death, and presents the work as faithfully as possible in Bach's final conception...

...speaking of performances: those on this recording are actually very fine, particularly in regard to the quality, technical ability, and command of Bach style demonstrated by each of the individual voices. When they sing in ensemble, of course you notice the singular attributes of each voice--which to me is a distraction better left where you expect it, in the Romantic-era drawing room of Brahms' Liebeslieder. There's no lack of energy, no compromise in phrasing or dynamic intensity (thanks largely to engineering that places the singers rather close), and you really can't complain about the vibrant, natural sound. For a while you can really lose yourself in this performance--and many of the arias are as fine as you'll hear anywhere; Margot Oitzinger's Agnus Dei is to die for..." 4,5/5 stars (ClassicsToday.com, David Vernier, 2010)

Dunedin Consort & Players
John Butt - Director

Susan Hamilton - soprano 1
Cecilia Osmond - soprano 2
Margot Oitzinger - alto
Thomas Hobbs - tenor
Matthew Brook - bass

Produced by Philip Hobbs