Bach: Mass in B Minor
Julie Roset, soprano; Beth Taylor, mezzo-soprano; Lucile Richardot, alto; Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, tenor; Christian Immler, bass; Pygmalion; Raphaël Pichon, conductor (Harmonia Mundi)
Raphaël Pichon and the musicians of his Pygmalion chorus and orchestra have made some extremely fine recordings over the last several years, from their Monteverdi “Vespers” to their Mozart “Requiem.” This Bach, however, is truly exceptional. It is not at all an act of staunch certainty and steadfast belief, the kind of monument that other conductors have made of this Mass. It’s a human drama, filled with the struggle and complexity of our mortal experiences. Above all, it sounds alive.
Blessed with playing and singing of extraordinary virtuosity, Pichon seems determined to find every last accent of expressivity in the score, resolved to shape the smallest details in service of his broader ideas. It’s hard not to be swept away by the sheer vigor of “Cum Sancto Spiritu,” performed as if a gust of the Holy Spirit were sweeping past, or by the regal grandeur of “Et resurrexit.”
Pichon is at his most breathtakingly interventionist at the first “Et expecto resurrectionem,” a moment that he sees as Bach inviting us into the darkest frailties of his faith: Everything stretches out as time dissolves and dissonance cuts at the ear. Still, this is Bach, and the “Dona nobis pacem,” though uncertain at first, grants a new dawn that blazes with resplendent light. If this is Bach for our times, then we are fortunate to have it. DAVID ALLEN
‘Rare Birds’
Owls (New Amsterdam)
There’s a lot to keep track of with the “inverted” string quartet known as Owls: It uses two cellos instead of two violins, necessitating repertoire rearrangement; it is game to play Baroque as well as contemporary material; one of its cellists, Paul Wiancko, also composes for the group. Perhaps the most notable thing about Owls, though, is the evident joy that Wiancko, his fellow cellist Gabriel Cabezas, the violinist Alexi Kenney and the violist Ayane Kozasa find when playing together.
