Bach, J S: Mass in A major, BWV234

“such life-enhancing music makes a welcome reissue.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 ****

“Schreier uses modern instruments, but with an awareness of performance practice which yields sparkling playing.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 ****

“How beautifully moulded … is the unassuming fugal opening of the F major Mass, followed by an exuberant and brilliantly executed Gloria … Bonney shows exemplary control in “Qui tollis”, as she does so affectingly in the gliding equivalent in the A major Mass.” Gramophone Magazine, February 1995

“The Schreier set can be warmly recommended … a fine, fresh account of the Magnificat. He has excellent soloists, notably Barbara Bonney and Olaf Bär, and the … digital sound is first class.” Penguin Guide

“Most persuasive from these Parisian musicians is the vitality of the choral movements of both Masses and the richly flavoured instrumental accompaniment, directed by Raphaël Pichon with warmth and an unusual sensitivity to the periodic structure of each movement.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2008

“Koopman and splendid soloists in a first-rate start to an important series.” Gramophone Magazine, August 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.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 *****

“Pierlot has already proved to be a sensitive and stylish Bach interpreter and in this recording his musicians illuminate Bach's textures with elegant phrasing and a pleasing balance between voices and instruments.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007 ****

“Whatever one's view on single-voiced Bach, the performances here are among the most persuasive in this medium. Francis Jacob's organ playing is both searchingly fluid and articulated. With the odd misgiving, this is a compelling and instinctive new Bach recording.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2007

“Rather gentler than the reconstruction culture of recent years, the Ricercar Consort ask the listener to contemplate the mourning for the Queen of Poland, Princess Christiane Eberhardine – in 1727, through a 'funerary monument' conceived around Bach's Trauer or Funeral Ode, the Mass in A major and contemporaneous organ pieces. We have no evidence that the Mass or the instrumental music appeared in the 'catalfalque in sound' (to quote Gilles Cantagrel), the memorial ceremony which occurred a month after the Queen's death and for which Bach was commissioned to write his exquisite Ode, but that is of little matter.
Whatever one's view on single-voiced Bach, the performances here are among the most persuasive in this medium. Philippe Pierlot understands the music from the thorough bass up – which one imagines should be common enough; yet so often a properly directed bass in Bach is traded for contrapuntal panache and facile rhythmic gesture. The Mass may lack a certain dramatic presence in the stunningly original exchanges in the Gloria, reconstituted from Cantata No 67 with its memorable Vox Christi 'scena' of Jesus's blessing bestowed on mankind.
However, the vitality, interest and warmth of the opening, as in all the choruses on the disc, are determined above all by textural definition and characterful instrumental playing, the flutes beautifully appointed throughout.
The Ode is a remarkable example of a Bachian synergy between a carefully selected palette of light pastels (lutes, gambas, recorders, oboes d'amores and strings) and a melodic flavour and nostalgic intensity drawn from a Passioninspired language, ideally crafted around the Enlightenment poetry of the young Leipzig humanist, Johann Christoph Gottshed. Its unique atmosphere is captured here, though as so often in single-voiced readings, the solo voices don't always have as much to say out of the collective realm. Francis Jacob's organ playing is both searchingly fluid and articulated.
With the odd misgiving, this is a compelling and instinctive new Bach recording.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010