Bach – Mass in B Minor

FROM THE MOMENT THAT A DECISION was made to record Bach’s Mass in b minor, it was clear tome that the scoring would have to be small-scale. After our successful and highly-praised recording of the St.John Passion in 2004-in which a small group of singcrs performed both the solo parts and the chorus parts there was really no way back. We had come to know a new kind of collaboration between instrumentalists and singers, which gave us an ideal foundation for the interpretation of Bach’s music and led to deeply expressive performances. Together, we discovered a new definition for the word ‘choir’. But at the same time, the Mass in b minor is a large-scale score: Bach, in his last completed work, demanded every possible performing force available to him. For example, in this unique and incomparable score, he used nearly every imaginable combination of voices and virtually the entire spectrum of instrumentation of his day. The enormous wealth of genres and structures is dazzling for the listener: timeless polyphony, fugues, canrus-firmus techniques, polychoral work, vocal and instrumental concern, concern for groups of instruments, concern grossi, osninani, solo arias and duets – in scorings from three to seven voices and in remarkably varied combinations-and choruses ranging from four to eight parts. It is certain that Bach never performed his masterpiece in complete form, and it remains unclear for what purpose or occasion he composed it. The beautiful autograph score remains a closed book in many respects: it contains hardly any tempo indications or dynamic signs. The movements are simply called Kyrie, Gloria, or Agnus Dci. All of the parts of the enormous score indicate one-on-a-part settings for instrumentalists or singers. Nowhere does Bach give suggestions for how to score the continuo. Is it written for soloists, or is Bach writing for a ‘real’ chorus? How large should the string groups be, and is variable scoring another option?