MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline


Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Latin Church Music - Vol. 1
CD 1
Missa in F BWV 233 (late 1730s) [23:27]
Missa in g BWV 235 (late 1730s) [26:08]
Magnificat BWV 243 (1723, rev.1732-5) [25:19]
CD 2
Missa in A BWV 234 (c.1738) [30:46]
Gloria in excelsis Deo BWV 191(1741-6) [14:48]
Missa in G BWV 236 (1738/9) [24:31]
Sanctus BWV 232 (1724) [5:09]
Johannette Zomer; Lisa Larsson; Deborah York; Caroline Stam; Elisabeth von Magnus (soprano); Bogna Bartosz (alto); Jörg Dürmüller; Paul Agnew; Gerd Türk (tenor); Klaus Mertens (bass)
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Chorus/Ton Koopman
rec. 2005? Originally issued as part of Challenge Classics CC72222.
Booklet with notes but no texts or translations.
CHALLENGE CLASSICS CC72188 [74:54 + 75:03]
Experience Classicsonline


I’ve been sitting on these recordings for quite a while now, unsure quite how to justify the praise I was ready to heap upon Ton Koopman’s recording of the Bachian Latin Masses. I acquainted myself with the scores, a little with their history, and finally with alternative recordings that I had not heard or not heard in a while. These works go by several names: Missae Breves, Lutheran Masses, or, as here on Ton Koopman’s two-CD set, lumped together under the category “Latin Church Music”. They have not enjoyed as much attention as the Cantatas or the B-minor Mass because they are almost entirely parodies of other Bach works. Unjustly so for they are, if anything, further refinements of existing masterpieces. A “Best of Bach” compilation by the master himself, if you will.

We know four of six parts from the Mass in F (BWV 233) from Cantatas BWV 102 and BWV 40. The other two are probably from one or more lost cantatas, rather than being original-but are de facto original to our ears. All six parts of the Masses in A (BWV 234), g (BWV 235) and G (BWV 236) occur elsewhere, namely in the Cantatas BWV 67, 72, 79 (twice), 102, 136, 138, 179 (also twice), and 187. Koopman also throws in the chorus from the Sanctus of BWV 232 III (from what would later become the Mass in B-minor, the Gloria BWV 191, and the Magnificat BWV 243.

Like the Missa (BWV 232a), the short masses are, well, cut short. Short masses in the Lutheran context means just going for the Kyrie and Gloria, skipping the Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. In the Catholic setting it usually just means skipping the Credo which, even where it is composed, is rarely performed as part of the service; being, instead, replaced by a Gregorian chant. The four short masses are different from the job-application “Missa” in that they are of more modest size, comparable to the cantatas, not the passions. Christoph Wolff, in the abbreviated liner-notes (no texts) that made it from volume 22 of his complete cycle into this convenient extraction, points out that the masses gave Bach “the opportunity to broaden his audience by including the Catholic court. But perhaps most importantly it let him extract from his large cantata repertoire some exemplary movements that, placed in a new context, would showcase his art of composition in a different, indeed enhanced way.”

The more widely recorded and performed Magnificat was Bach’s first large-scale work after his move from Köthen to Leipzig (1723), written for the Marian Feast and later revised to modernize the scoring. The Sanctus (1724) predates even the Missa (1733) and is the oldest part of what would be the Mass in B-minor. And the Gloria, written between 1743 and 1746, was intended for a Christmas Day performance, the exact circumstances of which are not yet known. Wolff suggests the peace treaty between Saxony and Prussia on that day in 1745. In it, Bach leans on the Missa for three movements. They are all performed as well as the short masses - and those are top drawer.

The performances kindled an instant love with these works and comparison to two of my favorite Bach conductors-Philippe Herreweghe (Virgin) and Konrad Junghänel (Harmonia Mundi) confirmed their excellence. I might not prefer Jörg Dürmüller over Christoph Prégardien (Herreweghe) in the G-major Mass, but Koopman’s other soloists (Deborah York, Johannette Zomer, Bogna Bartosz, Klause Mertens) leave nothing to be desired and his choir excels at all times. I also prefer Koopman’s usually swifter tempos compared to both, Herreweghe and Junghänel. And I prefer - marginally - the sound of the Challenge Classics recording - direct, but with a glow - over the slightly recessed resonance with Herreweghe and the Harmonia Mundi sound - also direct, but minus the glow. One should not forget the marvelous Purcell Quartet’s recording (Chandos); one of their earlier forays into Bach and at the time still radical for being One-Voice-per-Part. But even if I could somehow replace counter-tenor Robin Blaze with alto Bogna Bartosz, Koopman would remain my favorite account of these splendid works.

Brian Wilson’s MusicWeb International review accorded the set the designation of “Recording of the Month” with which I whole-heartedly concur.

Jens F. Laurson

see also review by Brian Wilson 
(June 2008 Recording of the Month)

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.