Mass in B minor BWV 232 - conducted by Frans Bruggen

Recording

V-1	Frans Brüggen
Nederlands Kamerkoor / Orchestra of the 18th Century
Soprano - Jennifer Smith; Counter-tenor - Michael Chance; Tenor - Nico van der Meel; Bass - Harry van der Kamp
Philips		Mar 1989	2-CD / TT: 1:44:28

Mass in B minor by Brüggen

Donald Satz wrote (November 8, 1999):
There have been quite a lot of fine comments about Brüggen's recordings of Bach works. Unfortunately, finding Brüggen/Bach in the US stores or web sites is not a rewarding venture.

There is one large-scale Brüggen/Bach recording I have - the B minor Mass. Brüggen and his orchestral forces did very well, but I had the perception that the vocal components were not given due priority. Sort of as if the orchestral and vocal areas were not integrated with one another sufficiently. I must admit I haven't listened to the Brüggen in some time; renewed listening might result in a different opinion.

There was some talk of Herreweghe's Bach interpretations not uniformly being dramatic or serious enough. I don't understand that view. I find his St. Matthew Passion of a very high dramatic level, and his cantata recordings always give me much pleasure.

The fact is that the bulk of these HIP conductors are very good or better. Be it Herreweghe, Brüggen, Gardiner, Pinnock, etc., they all beat the non-hip approach and instrumentation for me.

Hohe Messe

FEL wrote (February 13, 2000):
Last Saturday night I visited a performance of the Hohe Messe (BWV 232) in Utrecht, Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, by the orchestra of the 18^th century, conducted by Frans Brüggen. It was the best performance I ever heard live, and I heard about five times the Hohe Messe. It was even better than the version they put on CD (Philips) about five years ago.

They had a few marvellous soloists: Maria Cristina Kiehr and Claudia Schubert en adequate other singers (Hieke Meppelink, Marcel Beekman and Detlef Roth).

Some instrumental soloist were weak, especially the primarius Marc Destrubé. But the horn solo was extraordinary. I never heard that part played so well. Only at the start he (Teunis van der Zwart) had some problems, but later on he did it without mistakes.

The oboes lacked Ku Ebbinge and that's why their part could be played better.

Most enjoyable were the Choir (Gulbenkian from Lisboa, Portugal) and the orchestra.

It is a pity that this performance had not been recorded.

Johan van Veen wrote (February 14, 2000):
(To FEL) I have attended this concert as well and would like to give my impressions. There were many things to admire. Certainly the soloists were satisfying or even very good. None of them was really bad, although from a stylistic point of view I had some problems with Claudia Schubert (contralto) and Detlev Roth (bass), in particular because of the use of too much vibrato. The tenor Marcel Beekman has certainly a fine voice, but is a little inexpressive. I was surprised that Hieke Meppelink was singing soprano I, although mentioned on the program notes in second place, after María-Cristina Kiehr. I made sense though, since Ms Meppelink has a stronger high register than Ms Kiehr. One of the highlights was the Christe Eleison, a duet for two sopranos. The soloists were blending very well. In the duet Et in unum Deum (from Credo) Ms Meppelink adapted to Claudia Schubert - I would have liked it the other way round. Ms Schubert was most convincing in Qui sedes from the Gloria.

I had some problems with the choir. For a start, it was quite large: 10/6/6/6. Since this choir doesn't have the flexibility and transparency of (for example) the Collegium Vocale Gent, the sound was a little heavy. When it had to sing at a fast tempo, the articulation became unclear. Some fast parts became somewhat messy anyway - maybe that depends on where I was sitting.

I agree that the orchestra in general played well. I also agree with the verdict on Marc Destrubé and Teunis van der Zwart. It was a pity indeed that Ku Ebbinge wasn't there. What I also didn't like was the attitude of Konrad Hünteler - standing during his solos and making a lot of movement was distracting and totally senseless.

As far as I am concerned it was one of the better performances I have heard, but so far I haven't heard any that really satisfies me, nor is their any recording that I am completely happy with. It's just not an easy work to perform well.

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Last update: ýAugust 20, 2004 ý13:21:15