Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Helmuth Rilling, Stuttgart Bach Collegium :: Bach: Magnificat, BWV 243

The Musical Definition of Joy

Jake | Los Angeles, CA | 03/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
This recording is hands down my favorite of this most marvellous of works, the Bach Magnificat. I own three recordings (including Rilling's earlier recording on Sony and Gardiner's DG recording) and have sampled several of the other recordings available.



Rilling and Gardiner are probably the two finest Bach interpreters currently living, but here I think Rilling just finds and conveys slightly more than Gardiner in a way that makes all the difference in the world. Where Gardiner's performance never fails to set me smiling, Rilling's performance infects my very soul and body with joy (with a piece that I think may itself be the musical definition of joy) - though not a religious man, I find myself moved spiritually in the profoundest and most ecstatic of ways.



Lest the intangibles fail to persuade, and for those who are concerned about such things, a few technical details as well: both the Rilling and Gardiner CDs are superbly engineered (clear, well balanced, etc.), excellent soloists, orchestra and chorus. Rilling uses a period instrument sensibility with modern instruments, Gardiner uses period instruments. The Gardiner disc has no pairing, I didn't care one way or the other about the Rilling pairings (mainly Bach reinterpretations of recognizable Italian works that I ultimately prefer in their Italian incarnations).



A shout out to Harry Christophers and The Sixteen for a recording that like Gardiner's, also makes me smile. But finally, buy this one by Rilling, just do it, and then support Gardiner by purchasing one of the recent glorious, Cantata "pilgrimage" CD series on the Soli Dei Gloria label (I recommend, particularly, the Easter cantata recordings)."