Messe in h-Moll : BWV 232

"Vurdering: Recording of the month" - "If you were to force me to make just one choice the new SDG recording would be a very strong contender - perhaps the strongest of all".

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"Ugens album: Ugens Album på P2 er en helt vidunderlig indspilning af H-mol Messen, lavet af barokorkestret Concerto Copenhagen og dets leder cembalisten Lars Ulrik Mortensen. Indspilningen er ikke bare smuk og smidigt realiseret, men beviser samtidig en tese om hvordan Bach forestillede sig sin musik opført. I stedet for et egentligt kor bruger Concerto Copenhagen nemlig bare fem sangere ... De håndplukkede sangere på Ugens Album er så eminente til opgaven, at musikken forløses fuldstændig naturligt. Det er ikke forkert at sige, at denne indspilning fra Garnisons Kirke i København er en af de bedste, der nogensinde er lavet af H-mol messen".

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"Recording of the week: There's a subtle but unmistakable French accent to some of Christie's upbeats and cadences ... and he follows the composer's lead in flitting between the podium and keyboard ... It adds to the intimate, chamber-music atmosphere of an interpretation which is refreshingly non-interventionist: the overall impression is of the music simply being given space to unfold in all its glory".

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"At first the approach seems almost too light-toned and ethereal, but soon the intimacy of these modest forces - a chorus of fewer than two dozen, with an orchestra of around the same size - takes an ineluctable grip. Textures are clear, tempi brisk - the Sanctus positively skips. Well-matched soloists - Katherine Watson, Tim Mead, Reinoud Van Mechelen and André Morsch - are alert and secure. The shift from the sobriety of the Confiteor to the explosive Et exspecto resurrectionem is as good as you'll find, the concluding Dona nobis pacem radiant but resolute".

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"I think anyone acquiring this new Carus set will find it both enjoyable and rewarding; it's also very thorough in its approach. The performance is very fine and has been well recorded ... for all the care there's a good sense of spontaneity about the performance".

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"Admittedly Berniuss Mass in B Minor is not quite on a par with some of the fine period performances of the past, but it comes pretty close and makes a highly recommendable modern version".

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"René Jacobs altid er et af de sikre valg, fordi han aldrig er outreret ... Men denne tidlige indspilning med RIAS Kammerorchester ... har stadig netop den vægt, som messen kræver. Også på det punkt er indspilningen for et bredt publikum. Og den har incitament. Den river os med i alle musikkens yderpunkter ... Sangerbesætningen er fin med en blanding af stjerner fra dengang i begyndelsen af 1990'erne og sangere, som også er på toppen i dag".

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"Vurdering: Ugens album" - "Ensemblets greb om messen er helt anderledes slankt og klart fraseret. Her er ingen svinkeærinder, men dynamik og dyb indlevelse i alle afkroge af dette højbarokke mesterværk ... De 20 kvinder og mænd, som Cohen har med i sit kor, gør det både varmt og smukt, når de lægger stemme til messen ... Det samme gælder de fire solister".

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"Bachs h-mol messe med Marc Minkowski er spændende ... I klangidealet søger han ind til det mere historiske med sit orkester Les Musicians du Louvre fra Grenoble. Man studser måske i første øjeblik, men man fanges hurtigt ind ... de 10 solister, som tager sig af både solist- og korstemmer efter et historisk forbillede har en fin gensidig musikalsk forståelse, selv om de stemmemæssigt ikke altid er de mest imponerende".

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"Vurdering: Årets 10 bedste klassisk" - "Messen i h-mol hører til Johann Sebastian Bachs skønneste værker og virker fuld af mysterier og hemmelige budskaber. Concerto Copenhagens version er med de gamle instrumenter og kun ganske få sangere. Lars Ulrik Mortensen dirigerer en af de dybeste udgaver af værket i nyere tid".

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"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Gardiner's admiration for this work is palpable in every bar, perhaps over-curated for some; and if so the softer-hues of Cohen may be preferred. But in the grip of its conceits and its virtuoso executancy ... this High Mass joins a distinguished discography at high table".

"This is a distinctly intimate B minor Mass, delivered with crisp precision and a calmly businesslike manner by Philippe Herreweghe ... Some might yearn for something more grand, but for my money this somewhat understated approach gets it just about right and I would urge anyone to hear this, if only for the freshness and vitality".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "To my mind, Mortensen's special performance, which is full to the brim with insightful musicianship and has a refreshing avoidance of contrived formulas, comfortably joins Parrott (EMI), Junghänel and John Butt (Linn) as the finest examples of this kind of perspective on performing Bach's monumental sacred masterpiece ... Mortensen nurtures a natural flowing momentum throughout proceedings ... The individual components are routinely marvellous, but Concerto Copenhagen produce something much more than the sum of its parts: one of the mots profoundly captivating interpretations to have emerged recently".

"The mystical ideal of waiting to perform late, great art until well into pensionable age may apply to pianists and conductors of yesteryear but hardly to modern-day luminaries of period performance, The exception is William Christie, who, while not an especially noted Bachian, feels only now is the time right to set down his vision of the Mass in B minor ... There is a sense that, for all Christie's crowning achievements in the world of Italian and French music especially, Bach is somehow not quite his bag - despite moments of intermittent illumination".

"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "This is historically informed music-making at an undeniably high level, completed by an excellent recording".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "This performance demands to be heard ... The Dunedin Consort's singing conveys the ebb, flow and shading of Bach's choruses with ease and naturalness ... 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".

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or".

"Andreas Reize ... presents an eclectic and openhearted live performance of the B minor Mass, clearing a path for upbeat period gesture and carefully managed articulation ... This is ultimately a recording where individual movements afford admiration more than overall satisfaction. The solo singing is good and reliable, and the instrumental playing excellent throughout".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Bernius repeatedly seeks a close alliance between his singers and instrumentalists with eloquent arched lines and yet without an obsession for homogeneity at the expense of individual character in the ensemble ... the most striking and satisfying Mass in B minor to have appeared in years".

"Highly organised and accomplished but the Mass has limited impact ... Rilling's journey never truly gathers emotional stem, and there's the rub. The template has been followed, with surface tweaks, but the results do not diverge significantly from 1999".

"Some fine playing is produced, of which I very much enjoyed the sound of the oboe d'amore ... Anyone wanting a slow, reverential account may not share Rilling's thoughts, but someone seeking a more joyous expression of Christian belief should consider this".

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or".