Trinity College Choir Cambridge, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Stephen Layton – Bach: Mass in B Minor (2018) [Hyperion FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Trinity College Choir Cambridge, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Stephen Layton – Bach: Mass in B Minor (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:47:30 minutes | 2,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: hyperion-records | Booklet, Front Cover | © Hyperion Records

Following much-praised accounts of the St John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Stephen Layton now turns to the B minor Mass. With Trinity College Cambridge forces and a fine roster of soloists, the results are guaranteed to prove equally spectacular.

‘Katherine Watson, already a busy soloist, has a delightful baroque soprano voice … but it is Iestyn Davies who serves up this recording’s jewel in his first recorded Agnus Dei, a masterclass in technique, vocal beauty and moving musicality that it is hard to imagine surpassed … this is a fresh and attractive B minor Mass, with plenty in it to enjoy’ (Gramophone)

‘Layton’s Bach is rightly prized for its clear-headed vision and lack of eccentricity. He has a fine team of soloists: Katherine Watson and Helen Charlston’s bright voices blend ideally in the Christe eleison, and Gwilym Bowen and Neal Davies are both stalwarts in their solos. But it is Iestyn Davies’s singing of Qui sedes that takes this release into the realms of greatness. The OAE, with trumpets and drums in full cry in the Gloria, Osanna and Dona nobis pacem, make a splendid sound. Highly recommended’ (The Sunday Times)»

‘We’re treated to lively tempos, exemplified in the Cum Sancto Spiritu, … unusually transparent textures (you hear every voice, every instrumental line in the opening Kyrie, for example), first-rate soloists, and one of the more articulate and singer-sensitive orchestras you’ll hear in this music … as one who’s revisited more than a dozen recorded versions of the B minor Mass while preparing this review, my conclusion is that this one offers stylistically sound, true-to-Bach performances that are both modern yet historically informed, whose interpretive point of view and technical details will stand the test of time—and whose choral vocalism is a marvel’ (Classics Today)

Tracklist:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
01. Part 1 No 1, Chorus: Kyrie eleison
02. Part 1 No 2, Duet: Christe eleison
03. Part 1 No 3, Chorus: Kyrie eleison
04. Part 1 No 4, Chorus: Gloria in excelsis Deo
05. Part 1 No 5, Chorus: Et in terra pax hominibus
06. Part 1 No 6, Aria: Laudamus te
07. Part 1 No 7, Chorus: Gratias agimus tibi
08. Part 1 No 8, Duet: Domine Deus
09. Part 1 No 9, Chorus: Qui tollis peccata mundi
10. Part 1 No 10, Aria: Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris
11. Part 1 No 11, Aria: Quoniam tu solus sanctus
12. Part 1 No 12, Chorus: Cum Sancto Spiritu
13. Part 2 No 1, Chorus: Credo in unum Deum
14. Part 2 No 2, Chorus: Patrem omnipotentem
15. Part 2 No 3, Duet: Et in unum Dominum
16. Part 2 No 4, Chorus: Et incarnatus est
17. Part 2 No 5, Chorus: Crucifixus etiam pro nobis
18. Part 2 No 6, Chorus: Et resurrexit tertia die
19. Part 2 No 7, Aria: Et in Spiritum Sanctum
20. Part 2 No 8, Chorus: Confiteor unum baptisma
21. Part 2 No 9, Chorus: Et exspecto resurrectionem
22. Part 3, Chorus: Sanctus
23. Part 4 No 1, Chorus: Osanna in excelsis
24. Part 4 No 2, Aria: Benedictus
25. Part 4 No 3, Chorus: Osanna in excelsis
26. Part 4 No 4, Aria: Agnus Dei
27. Part 4 No 5, Chorus: Dona nobis pacem