Most helpful customer reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A very special perfomance, Jul 7 2004
I must say I'm very pleased with this DVD.
I sing in a choir here and we are working on this Mass too, so I know how difficult are some of the movements, even for a professional group.
Sometimes I miss the nerve and the power of an adult group, but I really like the relaxed style to sing of these boys.
The solos are OK, specially the bass with a sweet voice and very warm for a bass.This man is an example to any beginner.
I didn't like the countertenor in all numbers, but I must recognize he has a very special voice even for a countertenor.The orchestra is very good, in general very soft, but strong when they have to do it. The quality of the images and sound is good. Finnally, the context where this perfomance was recorded is a plus: the church, the grave of The Master, the participation of the Kantor, make this recording a very special one, that can be not so perfect in musical terms but deserves to be included in a good collection anyway.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Visit to the Thomaskirche, Feb 22 2003
The first concert I attended in the Thomaskirche was to hear the Thomanerchor, Gewandhaus Orchestra and soloists perform the St. John Passion in 1996. Someone here has described the boys of the Thomanerchor as not being professionals. If they are not, it must only be as the result of semantics, since the boys leave home at the age of 9 to live, eat, sleep, travel and sing together until leaving school at 18 or 19 and, during the academic year, giving weekly performances of Bach cantatas and other works. It's not too far a cry from how things were in Bach's day, except that the boys are a very select group and live in better and honored status. They live an exhausting schedule of performances. Aside from the unique experience of hearing Bach performed (very well) in his church by his choir, it was impressive to be there for a mainly local event. The German audience packed the place, of course, and were absolutely silent. At the conclusion, they sat in stillness for several minutes and then slowly departed in quiet.My last trip took me to the performance of the B-minor Mass, a duplicate of this one, on the evening before this DVD was made (and 3 days after hearing the St. Matthew Passion in the church). Again, it was very impressive. Bach's grave was "dressed up". The interior of the church had been renovated from the neglected, smokey darkness of DDR days to the whiteness you see in this production. (One can still see the old inscription on the ground level announcing that here, on such and such a date, Dr. Martin Luther preached the Reformation in Leipzig.) In that performance, it was the Thomaskantor himself whose intonation was less than perfect - a noticeable distraction. As others have noted, you do get a good idea of how the church looks. You do not, however, see "the Bach organ". That instrument disappeared long, long ago. What you see behind the choir is the romantic-era "Sauer Orgel". There is a new Bach organ (seen on the right in long views in the DVD), done in white and complete with his monogram, in the nave balcony. The Mass was sung "in liturgical style" with the inclusion of the hymns and chants prior to the non-varying portions of Bach's work. It almost seemed that it was being offerred less as a concert than as a commemoration for Bach, since it was performed, to the day, 250 years after he died only a few yards away in the old Thomasschule, which no longer exists. It may be that the performance on this DVD is not the most technically perfect version in existence. But, for my money, it is (and was) the most genuine performance I'm ever likely to see and hear. After all, it was sung in Bach's church, where Bach is buried, by Bach's choir, a most remarkable group.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Visit to the Thomaskirche, Feb 22 2003
The first concert I attended in the Thomaskirche was to hear the Thomanerchor, Gewandhaus Orchestra and soloists perform the St. John Passion in 1996. Someone here has described the boys of the Thomanerchor as not being professionals. If they are not, it must only be as the result of semantics, since the boys leave home at the age of 9 to live, eat, sleep, travel and sing together until leaving school at 18 or 19 and, during the academic year, giving weekly performances of Bach cantatas and other works. It's not too far a cry from how things were in Bach's day, except that the boys are a very select group and live in better and honored status. They live an exhausting schedule of performances. Aside from the unique experience of hearing Bach performed (very well) in his church by his choir, it was impressive to be there for a mainly local event. The German audience packed the place, of course, and were absolutely silent. At the conclusion, they sat in stillness for several minutes and then slowly departed in quiet.My last trip took me to the performance of the B-minor Mass, a duplicate of this one, on the evening before this DVD was made (and 3 days after hearing the St. Matthew Passion in the church). Again, it was very impressive. Bach's grave was "dressed up". The interior of the church had been renovated from the neglected, smokey darkness of DDR days to the whiteness you see in this production. (One can still see the old inscription on the ground level announcing that here, on such and such a date, Dr. Martin Luther preached the Reformation in Leipzig.) In that performance, it was the Thomaskantor himself whose intonation was less than perfect - a noticeable distraction. As others have noted, you do get a good idea of how the church looks. You do not, however, see "the Bach organ". That instrument disappeared long, long ago. What you see behind the choir is the romantic-era "Sauer Orgel". There is a new Bach organ (seen only in long views on the DVD), done in white and complete with his monogram, in the nave balcony. The Mass was sung "in liturgical style" with the inclusion of the hymns and chants prior to the non-varying portions of Bach's work. It almost seemed that it was being offerred less as a concert than as a commemoration for Bach, since it was performed, to the day, 250 years after he died only a few yards away in the old Thomasschule, which no longer exists. It may be that the performance on this DVD is not the most technically perfect version in existence. But, for my money, it is (and was) the most genuine performance I'm ever likely to see and hear. After all, it was sung in Bach's church, where Bach is buried, by Bach's choir, a most remarkable group.
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