The listing shows recordings of the Mass in B minor,

BWV The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2 ...

232, by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

. The selection is taken from the 281 recordings listed on the Bach Cantatas Website , beginning with the first recording by a symphony orchestra and choir to match, conducted by Albert Coates. Beginning in the late 1960s, historically informed performances paved the way for recordings with smaller groups, boys choirs and ensembles playing period instruments, and eventually to recordings using the one-voice-on-a-vocal-part scoring first argued for by

Joshua Rifkin Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944 in New York) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist; he is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestr ...

in 1982.

History

The work was first recorded by symphonic choirs and orchestras. From the late 1960s, historically informed performances (HIP) tried to adhere more to the sounds of the composer's lifetime, who typically wrote for boys choirs and for comparatively small orchestras of

Baroque instruments Musical instruments used in Baroque music were partly used already before, partly are still in use today, but with no technology. The movement to perform music in a historically informed way, trying to recreate the sound of the period, led to the ...

, often now called "period instruments". Some scholars believe that Bach used only one singer for a vocal part in the choral movements, termed "one voice per part" (OVPP). On some of these recordings, the solo singer is reinforced in choral movements with a larger orchestra by a

ripieno The ripieno (, Italian for "stuffing" or "padding") is the bulk of instrumental parts of a musical ensemble who do not play as soloists, especially in Baroque music. These are the players who would play in sections marked ''tutti'', as opposed to s ...

singer (OVPP+R). The first complete recording of the work was conducted by Albert Coates in 1929. Robert Shaw led the first American recording in 1947. Some recordings are documents of live concerts, such as a 1968 performance conducted by Karl Richter at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

Grand Hall. The same year, the first HIP recording appeared, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, followed by Johan van der Meer's

version Version may refer to: Computing * Software version, a set of numbers that identify a unique evolution of a computer program * VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS Music * Cover version * Dub version * Remix * ''Ve ...

with the

Groningse Bachvereniging The Groningse Bachvereniging was a Dutch semi-professional mixed choir, which existed from 1945 to 1989 and was known for its performances of Baroque music in historically informed performance. It was founded by Johan van der Meer and conducted by ...

in 1975 which was recorded live in Utrecht at the

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and archit ...

. The first OVPP recording appeared in 1982, conducted by

Table of selected recordings

The sortable listing is taken from the selection provided by Aryeh Oron on the Bach-Cantatas website. Soloists Bach composed the work for five soloists: soprano I and II, alto,

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

and bass. The soloists are listed in the table in the order

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

. Some recordings arranged the music for four soloists, the movements in which soprano II (SII) is requested, are divided, sung by soprano I (SI) and alto (A). * Christe eleison: A for SII in the duet with SI * Laudamus te: SI or A in the

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

for SII Some recordings divide the two bass solos on two singers because of their very different tessitura: * Quoniam tu solus sanctus: the aria requires a bass with a strong low register * Et in spiritum sanctum: the aria requires a bass with a high range which would today be termed a baritone The composition has a movement for two choirs SATB,

Osanna Osanna are an Italian progressive rock band. Origin The group originated in the Vomero neighborhood of Naples with the union of Lino Vairetti (voice), Danilo Rustici (guitar), Massimo Guarino (drums), Lello Brandi (bass), from the first line ...

. In recordings with one voice per part (OVPP), the soloists are normally listed in the order SSAATTBB. For some recordings, only the singers doing solo work are named. Choir type # Large choirs (red background): Large (unspecified), Bach (choir dedicated to Bach's music, founded in the mid-20th century, Boys (choir of all male voices), Radio (choir of a broadcaster), Symphony (choir related to a symphony orchestra) # Medium-size choirs, such as Chamber, Chorale (choir dedicated mostly to church music), Motet # One voice per part (green background): OVPP or OVPP+R (with ripienists reinforcing the soloists in some chorale movements) Orchestra type # Large orchestras (red background): Bach (orchestra dedicated to Bach's music, founded in the mid-20th century), Radio (symphony orchestra of a broadcaster), Symphony # Chamber orchestra # Orchestra on period instruments (green background)

Table

Notes

References

External links

Mass in B minor
Commentary, musical examples, list of recordings, and other information, on bach-cantatas {{Masses and Magnificats by Johann Sebastian Bach Discographies of compositions by J. S. Bach Masses by Johann Sebastian Bach