Credits:

Rudolf Lutz, Bach Foundation Orchestra, Bach Foundation Choir

Description:

The "Mass in B minor," the masterpiece of Bach's last years, was completed the year before his death after 20 years of work, including the first draft in 1733, and was so highly regarded in the early 19th century that the Zurich music publisher Hans Georg Negeli called it "the greatest work of musical art in all ages and among all peoples. It is still performed by many musicians today. The J.S. Bach Foundation Chorus and Orchestra, which performs the "Mass in B minor" here, is an elite ensemble founded in 2006 by the Bach Foundation of St. Gallen, Switzerland, with the goal of performing and recording all of J.S. Bach's vocal works and making them known both in Japan and abroad. The ensemble is directed and conducted by Bach scholar Rudolf Lutz, and since its founding has been engaged in monthly cantata performances. The booklet of this album includes a discussion of the works of Anselm Haltinger, a member of the Basel Schola Cantorum research department and a well-known Bach scholar, as well as a dialogue between Haltinger and Lutz. Naxos Japan