The Solomon’s Knot singers perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor entirely from memory, without a conductor – an approach that makes the experience even more exciting. The British ensemble, known for their uncompromising collective playing style, exceptional intensity and shared precision, open our season with a masterpiece of the Baroque that is wreathed in mystery. Bach began his Herculean task in 1733 but only completed the piece 15 years later; he probably never witnessed a full performance of the mass. Why he composed the mass is still unclear: the Mass in B Minor is too colossal for the liturgy and too serious for court. Might Bach have considered the composition to be his last will and testament, a panorama of his creative world? The questions surrounding it do not detract from the power of the music: the Kyrie, which grips us from the very first notes, the unfettered jubilance of the Gloria and the moving Agnus Dei that is based on an aria from a wedding serenade. From ecstasy to meditation, virtuoso fugues to chordal stillness, Catholic devotion to Lutheran clarity – a whole world echoes in this triumph of human skill.
Program
J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
Performers
Jonathan Sells, artistic leader | Solomon’s Knot