Re: To cull or not to cull: Bach / B Minor Mass / Leonhardt

On 21/10/2024 00:04, PPeso wrote:

On 10/20/2024 1:54 PM, Roland van Gaalen wrote:

This recording (which was more or less dismissed and hardly even mentioned here in the last twenty years or so) stays in or near the holy of holies in my living room; I will not banish it to the shoe boxes in the attic.
JS Bach: B Minor Mass BWV 232
La Petite Bande with chorus and soloists
conductor: Gustav Leonhardt
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (GD 77040)
recorded 1985

 Unlucky timing, I guess: the Gardiner version on Archiv was also recorded in 1985, and became pretty much the top critical reference as soon as it was released. In fairness it remains one of the best things JEG has done in his pre-punching days.

I haven't heard the famous Gardiner recording.
That's due to my biases: I used to be in the anti-HIP camp here.
These are the recordings in my collection
Coates
Enescu
Klemperer
Jochum
Celibidache
Leonhardt
Herreweghe (I)
Reize [I will briefly discusss this one in another thread]
Comparing them in detail, let alone ranking them, would be pointless.
In my opinion, they all have their merits (but I'm not completely sure, because it's been many years since a listened to some of them).
--
Roland van Gaalen
The Netherlands