Bach: Mass in B minor
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Music CD Cover
Performer: Michael GeorgeComposer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor: Robert King
Orchestra: King's Consort
Performer: Manuel Mrasek
Performer: Matthias Ritter
Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2005-03-08
Music Label: Hyperion UK
Free Music Notes for Bach: Mass in B minor
Free Music Review: More human than some humans
Hit: 5 Stars
Robert King's HIP recording is worlds away from anything you've ever heard, Bach or otherwise. His landmark decision to not only replace the soprano and alto women's voices in the choir with a boys' choir, but to also put in a treble (high boy soprano) and boy alto in place of the women soloists, makes for one of the most unique Mass readings in the catalog.
First, some issues that may bother some listeners:
* Folks approaching the work for the first time would be better starting with Karl-Frederich Beringer's reading (Bach: Mass in B Minor/Beringer/Windsbach Boy's Choir); it also uses a boys' choir and Baroque instruments (along with an extra ensemble of trumpets to boot), but it doesn't have some of the issues (or features) of King's recording.
* For fans of treble choirs in general, the Tölzenknabenchor is not the same thing as Libera (Robert King, not Robert Prizeman)! Nothing wrong with that (Libera is wonderful), but the sound is totally different.
* Perfectionists or ultrapurists will be put off by the treble soloist's breathless reading of the "Laudamus Te," and the boys' choir in general has lots of trouble in places: the complicated melismas of the "Cum sancto Spiritu" or the all-but-impossible melismas in the "Osanna," for example. So if your standard is something like Pearlman or Gardiner, this might not be for you.
After all that:
I love, love, LOVE this set! Out of the twenty-three recordings of this piece I own, this one is outstanding for so many reasons--some of which are the "wrong" reasons for a few.
The highlight of the recording is the boys' choir itself. They literally sing their hearts out. They aren't perfect, and that's okay, because the humanity, the depth of feeling and commitment, is palpable and undeniable, from the first cry of "Kyrie!" to the conclusion's fervent plea for peace--and THAT, more than technical perfection or clever sound engineering, is what's most important in this Bach's final and greatest vocal masterpiece.
The treble and boy alto soloists grapple with this music in what seems like a titanic struggle sometimes (the "Laudamus" and "Qui sedes" in particular), and they come out no worse for the wear. Again, the performance isn't perfect, but anyone even remotely familiar with the music can't help but smile at the huge, commendable effort put out here by the two soloists (the treble sounds no older than 13 or 14), tackling one of the greatest works of Western art so early in life.
There are also some wonderful moments when the whole thing--tuning, tempo, technique, dynamics--comes together like clockwork: the imperial, uncompromising "Confiteor," the rush into paradise that is the "Et expecto," the declamation of God's majesty in the "Sanctus." The horn player opening the "Quoniam" plays with red-blooded, full force. But on the whole, what makes this recording so unique and wonderful is what makes each diamond unique from one another: those occasionally small, occasionally not-so-small flaws.
When people uplift John Eliot Gardiner's "Mass in B minor for Chorus, Orchestra, and Recording Engineers" to the high (and unfounded) honor of "the most authentic" or whatnot, they're forgetting one tiny bit of trivia: there was a distinct lack of sophisticated recording technology in eighteenth-century Leipzig. What the audience (or congregation) heard was the "warts and all," the mistakes, the flubs, the clams, and yes, the slurred mess of melismas.
That's "authentic," and while "pristine" or "perfect" might not be the most appropriate words here, "human," "spontaneous," and "supremely moving" surely are. One of my very favorite performances of anything by anyone.
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