Concert Review: Faith Without Pause

Bernard Labadie leads Bach's Mass in B minor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Bernard Labadie leads Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Quebec
in Bach's Mass in B minor. Photo by Melanie Burford.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor is more than church music. It is a towering setting of the Catholic liturgy that while never performed in full in the composer's lifetime, can elevate the listener no matter what faith they profess. Its glories were on full display in Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night. The performance (mounted without an intermission) was by the period ensemble Les Violins du Roy and La Chapelle de Quebec under the leadership of their founder Bernard Labadie.

Concert Review: The Heavy Weight of Faith

Sacred Music in a Sacred Space presents Bach's Mass in B minor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

K. Scott Warren leads the Choir of St. Ignatius.
Photo by Joshua South Photograpy © 2015 Sacred Music in a Sacred Space.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor was the composer's final great choral work, an enormous setting of the Catholic liturgy that was never performed complete in his lifetime. (In fact Europe waited until 1859 for the first performance under the leadership of Carl Friedrich Zelter, a key figure in the Bach revival of the 19th century.) Although its history is complex, its power in performance cannot be denied.

The Superconductor Interview: Thomas Crawford

The conductor of the American Classical Orchestra takes on Bach's Mass in B Minor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Left: conductor Thomas Crawford. Right: Johann Sebastian Bach.
The conductor performs Bach's Mass in B Minor on Nov. 15.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor is one of the great choral epics, a setting of the full Catholic mass by this Lutheran composer. It is also a textually troubled work, written over a long period of the composer's life and never performed by Bach himself. For Thomas Crawford, music director of the American Classical Orchestra, taking on Bach's monumental Mass is the achievement of a lifetime. Conductor and ensemble will perform the work on November 15 at Alice Tully Hall.

Concert Review: The Breadth of God

The New York Philharmonic plays Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Alan Gilbert. Photo by Chris Lee © 2013 The New York Philharmonic.

On Wednesday night, New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert demonstrated that his skill with dramatic and choral music extends to the sacred music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This was the first of four performances this week of the Mass in B Minor, Bach’s final completed composition and the summit of his career as a creator of sacred music. These concerts are the anchor event of the orchestra’s ongoing festival, The Bach Variations.

Bach Against the Storm

Trinity Wall Street presents free Bach concert. 
Event to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief.

The Choir of Trinity Wall Street.
Photo by Leah Reddy © 2010 Trinity Church.

This just in: on Saturday night at 7:30pm, Trinity Church and the Trinity Choir will present a free performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor as part of an effort to raise funding to relieve the suffering of victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Attendees at this concert are encouraged to donate to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, a non-profit which will in turn disperse funding to relief organizations helping the 40,000 New Yorkers left homeless by the storm.

Trinity's rector, Dr. James Cooper had the following comment: "Trinity Church has served New Yorkers in need for more than three centuries. There is no greater honor or privilege than to stand with our neighbors in this great city and to say, 'we are here to help.' I invite all to this concert to be uplifted by the music and by the spirit of your giving."