Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Harry Christophers, Symphony of Harmony & Invention :: Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232

Bach?s Mass in B minor displays all the ingredients that that contribute his supreme ranking amongst his peers of any age, and also demonstrates the breadth of compositional skills amassed during his lifetime. It demands choral singing of blistering athleticism but also sensitive, responsive and, at times, majestic orchestral playing coupled with virtuosic obligatos along with a team of soloists who can breathe an immediacy of expression into the words of the Mass. All these elements are well to the fore in this magnificent recording. The Sixteen is one of the jewels in the musical crown of Britain, and enjoys a worldwide reputation for clarity and beauty with precision and dramatic intensity. Founded in 1977 by its director, Harry Christophers, its albums have received nearly every major prize of the recording industry including the prestigious Gramophone Award for Early Music. The Sixteen?s special reputation for early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance and a diversity of twentieth century music is founded on a naturalness of performance, a revealing clarity and beauty of sound, precision, and a dramatic intensity of delivery. To date, The Sixteen and The Symphony of Harmony and Invention have made over 90 recordings, many award-winning, in a range of work spanning the music of 600 years, rediscovering and performing lost and little-known repertoire.