GavinA
pfm Member
Actually, it’s the one voice to a part that makes me love the McCreesh - gives it clarity and fleetness of foot without any loss of awe. As to what Bach had in the way of forces, Rifkind set the cat among the pigeons by starting the OVPP movement with his B Minor Mass in the ?70s. Gardiner sneered at the ‘B Minor Madrigal’ but it changed how Bach is done now. I have better B Minors than Rifkind’s but I really love his cantatas done OVPP. Interestingly the latest view is that Bach probably had to put up with very small forces, but he wrote to the town council setting out his view of what he believed he should have - and that was more than one voice per part. (But a lot smaller than what was customary in the 50s and 60s).I have the McCreesh recording..... but I'm afraid the one-voice-to-a-part thing just doesn't work for me (surely Bach would have had larger choral forces available?) and the suspension of disbelief does not occur for me with this performance. Whereas it absolutely does with JEG/EBS on Archiv and Harnoncourt's later Musicus Concentus Wien recording. And with Chailly's modern Leipzig recording - which surprisingly has generally quicker tempos than even McCreesh/Gabrieli! But would be my 3rd choice after Gardiner and Harnoncourt.
I'm going to give Klemperer a go though.....