Bach's Mass in B Minor

John Butt conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Bach's mighty late choral masterpiece, with a stellar cast of soloists.

Recorded on the 2nd February 2019 at the Barbican, London.

Presented by Ian Skelly

JS Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232
Joanne Lunn (soprano)
Mary Bevan (soprano)
Alex Potter (countertenor)
Samuel Boden (tenor)
Edward Grint (bass)
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
John Butt (conductor)

John Butt, one of the most innovative and celebrated Bach interpreters today, conducts the BBC Symphony Chorus in its first performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor for 40 Years. At the heart of the BBC Symphony Chorus's 90th-birthday season, the exciting fusion of Butt's own period approach with modern instruments and large-scale choral forces will make for a fascinating combination in one of the most technically challenging yet rewarding pieces of the choral repertoire.

To composer Benjamin Britten the work was one of the two pillars of Western civilisation; for the revered writer on music Donald Francis Tovey, in the excitement of the Mass's Sanctus ‘Bach is here conducting the angelic hosts. The strings represent the swinging of censers: the various antiphonal sections of the choir sing to each other like two seraphim.'