The present album collects a representative cross section of Bach’s Latin church music that complements his extensive and rich repertoire of cantatas for the Sundays and feast days of the ecclesiastical year, works which Ton Koopman has already recorded with great success for Challenge Classics. It covers a broad chronological range from Bach’s time as cantor and music director in Leipzig, and includes the Magnificat from 1723, the Sanctus from 1724, the four Kyrie-Gloria Masses from the later 1730s, and the Christmas Gloria from the mid 1740s.
June 2008
*****
“Koopman achieves a truly astonishing clarity and focus from 16 voices… He's superbly served, too, by his instrumentalists, horns flying effortlessly through uplifting strands of figures in the thrilling opening to BWV233's Gloria… it's the now-familiar 'Koopman spirit', that irrepressible exuberance and imagination, which confirms his latest venture as my Magnificent benchmark.”
August 2008
“Koopman and splendid soloists in a first-rate start to an important series.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
