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Product Description
Product Description
DVD1: Mass in B minor captured at Fontfroide Festival in 2011 in the nave of the Abbey Church,
Product Description
ALIA 9896; ALIA VOX -; Classica vocale Sacra Messe
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By G. T. King
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Savall brings to this performance a lifetime's experience of varied types of music from many different cultures. Not the least of these is dance music of various kinds, and in this performance Savall allows Bach's music, above all, to dance. And this is not in the slightest bit odd in this pinnacle of sacred music: Wilfred Mellers once wrote a perceptive book called *Bach and the Dance of God*. Bach manages to express an earthiness in almost all of his sacred music, which is arguably the most important part of his entire output, while creating the most 'divine' conception of all the myriads of musical settings of the Christian Mass. Everything seems to work in the most satisfying synergy: the building, the instrumental band, the chorus and soloists. A minor criticism might be the somewhat resonant acoustic, but for me this is a bonus, allowing one to hear the music in the kind of religious space for which it is suited. There are so many musical felicities in this performance, based on the most intelligent assessment and interpretation of Bach's score, that I shall not even attempt to mention them. But the buyer should note that apart from the double CD recording of the performance you get the complete performance on a separate DVD, plus yet another DVD which documents some of the preparations and rehearsals for the performance, interlaced with snatches of interviews with Savall and some of his musicians, all photographed quite magnificently. I have several versions of the B minor Mass, all of which I regard highly for different reasons (and all in excellent period performances), but this is the one I would keep were I forced to discard the others. It is, simply, overwhelming. What a fantastic buy this is! Get it!
By onlinereader
Allthough I am very fond of Savall as a performer and I appreciate enormously most of his rercordings I was very disappointed by this DVD and CD. The booklet is very fine, the images and interviews are nicely done, but the recording of the concert either on CD as on DVD did not meet my expectations at all. Perhaps the recording conditions in the church were difficult, but modern techniques can remedy that. In my opinion the sound is often strangely unbalanced, the complex structures cannot be heard but there is only one big cloud of sounds.
As a document of a single event it may be fine, but I wouldn't recommend this recording to whoever is interested to get to know the piece. Pity, because the singers and musicians are brilliant, and Maestro Savall certainly has something to tell us about this piece of music. Alas the recording does not show the musicians at their best. I therefore give only two stars, as I consider this CD as an example of an extremely unsuccesful piece of sound engineering.
As a document of a single event it may be fine, but I wouldn't recommend this recording to whoever is interested to get to know the piece. Pity, because the singers and musicians are brilliant, and Maestro Savall certainly has something to tell us about this piece of music. Alas the recording does not show the musicians at their best. I therefore give only two stars, as I consider this CD as an example of an extremely unsuccesful piece of sound engineering.
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