Johann Sebastian Bach: Great Choral Works (Newton Classics Audio CD 9-disc set)

Pioneering recordings from the 1960s and early 70s in first-rate stereo sound.

Mass in B minor, St John Passion,
St Matthew Passion,
Christmas Oratorio
Walter Berry, Peter Pears,
Elly Ameling, Werner Hollweg,
Yvonne Minton, Helen Watts,
Tom Krause, Werner Krenn,
Hermann Prey, Fritz Wunderlich et al
Wiener Singakademiechor
Stuttgart Hymnus-Chor
Lübecker Kantorei
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra

In the late 1960 and early 70s Karl Münchinger and his Stuttgart forces were mainstay
of the record catalogue when it came to Barock repertoire. Their recording of Vivaldi’s Four
Seasons was a bestseller in its day, and had an very long life in the record catalogues.
Münchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, whilst not period instrument musicians,
were pioneers in what was then thought of as more authentic performance practice. These
are clean performances with small-scale forces used with great precision, with all the
19th century excesses that had been necessary at one time to re-introduce
these masterworks to the repertoire stripped away to reveal to many for the first time the
true sound of the music. These recordings were the audio equivalent of seeing a restored
painting by a great master for the first time.

Münchinger was astute in his choice of soloists, and the cast list for these recordings
reads like a role call of the great names of the period. These are recordings that are both
important historical documents, and that can hold their own alongside today’s period
practice interpretations.

‘I enjoyed every moment of the fine performance, and the excellent recording,
and found it alive from start to finish’ --Gramophone, December 1967

‘Many will be glad to hear Peter Pears’s superb performance of the Evangelist’ --Gramophone, March 1965