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Music

mEsSe IN h-MoLL

Johann Sebastian Bach, Philippe Herreweghe
Collegium Vocale Gent

Philippe Herreweghe likes the industrial spaces of the Ruhr region. To the world-famous conductor and Bach specialist they are cathedrals of glass and steel, providing an ideal setting for Johann Sebastian Bach’s music.  After conducting Bach cantatas with overwhelming success as part of the music theatre production ‘Accattone’, he suggested conducting Bach’s ‘Mass in B-minor’ in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum this year.

Philippe Herreweghe has recorded the ‘Mass in B-minor’ no less than three times – a work he regards as the apogee of spiritual music. Anyone comparing the three recordings will notice how he and the Collegium Vocale Gent increasingly delve into the essence of Bach’s monumental score and eschew effects of any kind. Over the years their interpretation of Bach’s “Great Catholic Mass” has become more introverted, concentrating with increasing intensity on the essentials.   

It took Bach 15 years to complete this mass. The ageing composer struggled with its form right until the end. Because he saw the work quite explicitly within the respected, centuries-old tradition of the Latin mass, all he was concerned about in the composition was achieving perfection. The mass represents a wonderful synthesis of differing musical styles, of Renaissance polyphony and late Baroque, of the traditional and the modern.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Messe in h-moll, BWV 232

Cast

Soprano - Hannah Morrison, Margot Oitzinger
Countertenor - Alex Potter
Tenor - Thomas Hobbs
Bass - Peter Kooij
Choir and orchestra - Collegium Vocale Gent

Tickets