Sometimes, such as in the following Et in terra pax, its half-hearted use disturbed the legato lines without making any alternative impact. Undoubtedly, this ‘agitation’ in the music when coupled with Rilling’s fast tempos makes for a very engaging and exciting experience! Nonetheless, I find it is used too often. One can also hear this ‘choppiness’ put to stunning effect in one of my favourite choruses, the Gloria in excelsis Deo. Such an interesting experimentation can be sampled in the duet Domine Deus clearly.
He makes entire sections outstanding by using the staccato even where Herreweghe (for Harmonia Mundi – reviewed here) and Gardiner (Archiv Produktion 415 514-2) employed broad flowing legato lines. I am surprised by Helmuth Rilling’s interesting use of the staccato in his interpretation. It is for me the be-all and end-all of Masses and Fugues for after the B minor, no one really needs to write another. And to top it all, Bach achieves this with so little, such economy of notes and orchestration. Considering its relatively short two hours of running time, the B minor packs an amazing multitude of everlasting tunes, awe-inspiring musical super-structures and creativity-dulling fugal massivas. So too in Bach’s B minor Mass – for even in any league, it is a giant of a musical creation hailed by many to be the most perfect of musical compositions. For the solo voice – inexhaustible breath and advance vocal dexterity for the chorus, a willing sense of proportion and place within Bach’s complex musical structure and for the director, a subtle balance of the inspired versus examined humanity is needed to deliver Bach that is immediately sensational! Despite a tonality deeply rooted in the ‘classical’, Bach remains exceedingly difficult to get right for its many demands made on interpreters. Yet Bach is not quite the mainstream fare of most choirs that I know.
Many choruses around the world are bound to look through their cupboards in search of Bach works which they may present to audiences in the year 2000. Gchinger Kantorei Bach-Collegium Stuttgartĭirected by Helmuth Rilling HÄNSSLER Classic CD 92.070 Sibylla Rubens Juliane Banse sopranos I & IIĪndreas Schmidt Thomas Quasthoff basses I & II Edition Bachakadamie Vol.70 Mass in B minor, BWV232