OVPP (one voice per part) is no longer a rare performance option; this recording in two volumes of Bach's four Lutheran masses demonstrates why: you can hear the parts! and you can hear the instrumental lines! and the voices sound like human voices! Intonation is sharper and rhythms are more incisive. Scholarship does show that OVPP was more the norm in Bach's musical milieu than large choirs, but that's a musicologist's problem. My judgment is based purely on listening. This performance by the Purcell Quartet is very exciting. I suspect that it will be too exciting, too upbeat, for listeners who want their Bach to sound like the choir they heard in church when they were children. This is not a solemn, pious performance of Bach. It's a revelation, though... a revelation of how Italianate Bach's music was, even in these small Latin masses for Lutheran services on certain holidays.--Amazon |
Dear Otto,
ReplyDeleteI have very much enjoyed the recommendations at the bottom of your posts. Many of those cds I've found fantastic - especially the Fux by the Freiburger Orchestra.
I very much look forward to reading more of your blog!
Andrew
This is an unusual and interesting recording, and I think I like the OVPP approach. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, I have volume 1 and it is excellent music. Looking forward to volume 2
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