This is the third recording of Bach’s great Missa
by Philippe Herreweghe. He recorded it for Virgin Veritas in
1988 (6931972) and made a subsequent recording for Harmonia
Mundi (HML590161415). Though I admire Herreweghe’s way
with Bach very much and own quite a number of his recordings,
for some reason I haven’t heard either of those earlier
versions. The Virgin recording is also available as part of
a larger box of Bach vocal music (review)
and the Harmonia Mundi recording similarly migrated into a boxed
set (review),
though I’m unsure if it is still available in that incarnation.
This latest recording has been issued on Herreweghe’s
own phi label.
I’m not sure how large a choir or orchestra is used on
this latest recording because the only performers to be named
individually are the soloists and the conductor. That’s
a pity, not least because the excellent obbligato players deserved
to be credited. Herreweghe is not a disciple of the one-to-a-part
school of Bach vocal performance but I’m sure from listening
that neither choir nor orchestra is large. In any event, the
conductor’s scrupulous ear and the skill of the musicians
ensure that the sound of the performance is consistently light
and airy.
Herreweghe does not choose any outlandish tempi. So, for example,
both Kyrie I and II proceed at a sensible, moderate speed, the
textures and part writing unfolded with great clarity. The opening
of the Gloria is light and buoyant; it sounds joyful, as it
should do. I very much like the speed for ‘Et in terra
pax’. This is slower than the pace for the preceding movement
but there’s still an excellent momentum and the fugal
writing is splendidly differentiated by the choir. Even better
is the ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ in which there’s
some marvellously nimble and light-footed singing and playing:
the fugue, led off by the tenors, is exhilarating though not
rushed and the clarity of the singing is really delightful;
one is reminded, not for the only time in this performance,
how much Bach’s music is founded in the dance.
The choir is just as good in the reflective sections of the
work. ‘Et incarnatus’ has suitable gravitas but
also, thanks to everyone’s lightness of touch, a genuine
sense of wonder. Herreweghe paces ‘Crucifixus’ most
intelligently; just slowly enough to register the solemnity
but not so slowly that the music becomes at all bogged down.
After that ‘Et resurrexit’ is just what it should
be; a sprightly dance of joy. ‘Et expecto’, festive
with trumpets, is a truly celebratory affirmation. Everything
the choir does is truly excellent but even so the Sanctus is
rather special. Herreweghe’s tempo is, once again, adroitly
chosen, and the choir, sounding relaxed yet fervent, with excellent
support from the orchestra, conjures an aural vision of angels
swinging censers before they launch into ‘Pleni sunt caeli’
exuberantly.
Herreweghe is very well served by his soloists. The two sopranos
sing delightfully, not least when they combine in the ‘Christe
eleison’, their voices blending exceptionally well. Hana
Blažiková, who I can’t recall hearing before,
gives great pleasure in the ‘Laudamus te’. She phrases
the music, ornate decorations and all, effortlessly and very
naturally. The Soprano I gets no solos in this work; all her
contributions are in the form of duets and Dorothea Mields combines
equally effectively with all her duet partners. She’s
particularly well matched with the countertenor in ’Et
in unum Dominum’. The French countertenor, Damien Guillon,
who numbers Andreas Scholl among his teachers, is elegant in
‘Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris’. Later in the Agnus
Dei, paced with gravitas by Herreweghe but not sluggishly, the
tone is plangent and evenly produced and he sings with fine
expression. I like the way Thomas Hobbs sings the Benedictus.
His voice is light, clear and easy and, supported by an excellent
flautist, his performance of this taxing aria is stylish and
most enjoyable.
I believe that the Dutch bass Peter Kooij has featured in all
three of Herreweghe’s recordings of this work. He is surely
one of the finest bass or baritone exponents of Bach currently
before the public and here he lives up to his reputation. He
sings ’Quoniam tu solus sanctus’ with nobility,
his tone firmly focused and his voice agile - the horn obbligato
player is jolly impressive too. If anything he’s even
better in ‘Et in Spiritum Sanctum’, negotiating
the twists and turns of the vocal line with consummate ease
and maintaining a seamless legato and fine line throughout.
As I hope is clear by now, all the elements of this performance
- soloists, choir and orchestra - are first class. However,
even such excellent performers need someone to bring it all
together and to have a vision of the music. The performance
is beautifully shaped by Philippe Herreweghe and I’ve
chosen my words very carefully there. Everything about this
reading of the B minor Mass is cultivated and refined and although
the solemn movements are invested with the appropriate dignity
the two overriding impressions I take from the performance are
its lightness and its joyfulness. The lightness in particular
is very much in line with other Bach recordings by Herreweghe
that I’ve heard in the past.
I have several recordings of this inexhaustible masterpiece
in my collection but up to now the 1985 recording by The Monteverdi
Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner has reigned supreme. I think
it still does - just. This new Herreweghe recording, however,
has mounted the most serious challenge to date, in my experience,
to Gardiner’s hegemony. I know there are those who do
not warm as readily as do I to Gardiner in Bach, finding his
approach perhaps too dramatic or zealous. Actually, I find that
the two recordings complement each other very well; they bring
out different aspects of the work. Whatever your standpoint,
unless you are allergic to period-style performance of Bach
then I would urge you to hear this marvellous new recording.
I’ve enjoyed it immensely and I’m delighted to add
it to my collection. It only remains to say that the recorded
sound is excellent - clear and beautifully balanced, giving
a very pleasing and natural sounding result - and that the nicely
produced booklet includes a scholarly but very readable essay
by the Bach expert, Christoph Woolf.
This is a splendid and important addition to the discography
of this life-enhancing masterpiece.
John Quinn
See also review by Robert
Hugill
Dorothea Mields (soprano I); Hana Blažiková (soprano
II); Damien Guillon (counter-tenor); 