Podcasts about mass in b minor

The Mass in B minor is a well which never runs dry; we return to it year after year, and this time to celebrate Easter Monday we jump into the splendid "Sanctus" section. Christian uses the fugue subject on the text "Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus" (heaven and earth are full of thy glory) to describe one of the best text paintings in history. This blossoming motif doesn't just leap to heaven and fall to earth; it then covers over and under both of them with the glory (gloria) of God.    "Pleni sunt coeli..." fugue section of the "Sanctus," Mass in B minor as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society

Welcome back -- this is Part 2 of our 2-part series on a pivotal moment during the "Et expecto" section of the Mass in B minor. If you haven't caught Part 1 yet, which was released last week, we suggest you start there. In this episode we go more in-depth with harmony than we ever have on this podcast. If you want to follow along with the twists and turns, get out your Mass in B minor score and read along with us! (Or use this link for a vocal score reduction from IMSLP.  The "Et expecto" bridge starts on the bottom of page 118.) Jump to the "Et expecto" bridge, where we start this episode (performance, as always, courtesy of the Netherlands Bach Society)

Always know where you're going. Today is part 1 of a 2-part series on one of the famous moments of Bach -- the transition from "Confiteor" to "Et expecto" at a dramatic moment in the Mass in B minor.  Rather than jump right into the final, festive section that describes the eternal joy of the resurrection of the dead, Bach first gives us a slow, searching, harmonically unstable bridge.  This section contains some of the most unusual sounds in all of Bach's work.  But... he always knows where he's going -- and when he gets there, it is glorious. This week we focus mostly on the "Confiteor", which is a lead-up to the real moment.  Next week we get to the bridge. Jump to the "Confiteor" from the Netherlands Bach Society performance of Mass in B minor Vocal score for Mass in B minor (public domain) from IMSLP -- "Confiteor" starts on page 113  

We complete our three-part miniseries on the Kyrie section of the Mass in B minor, focusing on the third movement.  And three is the number of the day -- everything here seems to have a three-part structure, from the largest sections of music down to the smallest cell.  The Rule of Three pervades. Netherlands Bach Society performs the Mass in B minor (this link takes you directly to the movement we discuss in the episode): https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=956 Rule of Three: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_three_(writing)  

The “Kyrie” section of a mass comes first and must make an impression. Composers of ages past had learned to write a contrasting phrase in the middle: “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.” Bach takes this to an extreme; two grand archaic Kyries frame a stylish, Italian opera style soprano duet. It couldn't be more opposite.    The beautiful intervals of thirds and sixths make the duet harmony, except when a special moment is called for, when we hear tense seconds and sevenths. But everything has its opposite, even within this duet. Thirds later become sixths, and seconds sevenths. Bach uses these relationships to balance the structure of the delicate prayer “Christ Have Mercy.”   Christe Eleison (Netherlands Bach Society): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE&t=667s   Renaissance Kyrie example: William Byrd, Mass for Four Voices (Ensemble Morales) Creative Commons License 3.0

In January 2021, on our very first episode, we explored a "bass drop" moment at the very end of Bach's monumental Mass in B minor, where the soaring high voices and instruments suddenly give way to a deep, full, bass sound, in one of the most satisfying moments of music of all time! Today, we revisit the evergreen Mass in B minor, and find another "bass drop" moment suggested by listener Bill -- this time from the very first movement.  Here, the fugue subject enters for the first time in the bass voices, and in a stroke of genius, the Netherlands Bach Society has the full bass section enter for the first time at this critical moment. The video by the Netherlands Bach Society is a true artistic treasure -- not to be missed!  See it here -- and listen with headphones or good speakers -- enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE

Listener Alysse requested this triumphant moment from the energetic "Cum sancto spiritu" -- which happens to be Alex's favorite movement of the Mass in B minor.  This movement is full of verve and rhythmic complexity.  In this episode, we marvel at these rhythms and how they manifest in the two fugues.  And, along with listener Alysse, we stand awe and admiration of the mind that brought this music into the world. Netherlands Bach society performs Mass in B minor, led by Jos van Veldhoven -- link takes you straight to the movement we discuss in the episode: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=3033  

In celebration of Easter, we complete the pair of parts including last week's "Crucifixus." In one of the most stunning reversals in all of music, Christ is laid into the dark grave in the lowest of lows, when suddenly "And he rose again on the third day..." bursts forth with triumphant celebration.  Bach was a master of text. Without rushing past the dramatic parts of the story told in the Nicene Creed, he separates movements like these two for maximum contrast at those iconic first few seconds of "Et resurrexit." His personality as a composer (or, really, lack thereof) is different and less flashy from the way we see modern musicians and their fame. It is almost as though he represents a collective soul of his culture; he so neatly synthesized all of the forms that came before him and used them in complete service of this religious text. Bach is a terminal point of music like none other.  Performance of "Et resurrexit" as part of the performance of the Mass in B minor by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE&t=4138s

Some of the most evocative and emotional music ever written, the "Crucifixus" movement from the Mass in B minor depicts Christ's suffering and death -- you can hear the striking lashes, the plodding steps of His painful walk to Golgotha, the twisting of the crown of thorns, the nailing and the crying, the sighing and the dying.  Bach's use of the passacaglia form here leads to the possibility of extreme dissonances, all within the creative framework of a repeated bass line, which sounds as if it is endlessly marching down, down, down...  Full of remarkable moments, the "Crucifixus" movement -- this masterwork within a masterwork -- will never cease to amaze us. Performance of "Crucifixus" by four soloists and orchestra, as part of the performance of the Mass in B minor by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE&t=3952s

Do you suffer from "sound fatigue?" Do you worry that after just a few seconds of starting to listen to a piece of music that the rest of it will just... sound the same? Good news! We have something just for that. Bach's B minor mass boasts a wide variety of sound color for your listening pleasure.  As long and towering as it is, it never gets old; each part has something new to offer. The structure of the parts and their church themes are just as important and effective as the sound variety in this gigantic masterwork. In the "Qui sedes" alto aria, the Netherlands Bach Society uses a male alto soloist to balance the oboe d'amore. The combination is "otherworldly" -- we don't hear anything like it in the average classical symphony. Countless metaphors are there not just in the sounds, but the way Bach sets the two parts against each other -- sometimes almost together, sometimes diverging.   "Qui sedes" aria as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE&t=2499s

Alex spends one more episode excitedly leading us through some of his favorite music, this time from the "Et in terra pax" movement.  Picking up from where last episode left off, we talk about the beauty and simplicity of the main melody of "Et in terra pax", which Bach cleverly reuses as a fugue subject a bit later.  This is classic Bach -- elegant and sophisticated, joyful and heartfelt, deeply complex and yet effortlessly clear and beautiful. "Et in terra pax" from Mass in B minor, as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=1285

"Glory to God in the highest!"  The orchestra and choir burst with excitement and joy.  Alex and Christian talk about the beauty of the Latin language, the huge orchestra (which seems actually pretty small by today's standards), the Protestant Reformation, and somehow Christian even gets a tuba joke in there.  Alex talks us through his favorite moment -- the end of the instrumental introduction, where Bach uses a rhythmic trick to ramp up the excitement leading into the choral entrance. "Gloria" from Mass in B minor, as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=1183

A solitary voice: "I believe in one God." Then a second voice: "I believe in one God." Then another, then another, then another: "I believe in one God..." soon the whole room is full of people confessing their shared faith. Bach sets this simple text (the beginning of the Nicene Creed) to a simple seven-note tune, but spirals it out into a seven-voice fugue that ranks up there with the most complex pieces of harmonic work of the baroque era.  And yet, despite the remarkable density of the counterpoint, the music sounds effortless and light. "Credo in unum Deum" from the Mass in B minor, Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Jos Van Veldhoven: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=3254  

Kan man lave workout til Bach? Ja, siger Marcello Morns, der dog sjældent når helt igennem Bachs marathonværk "Messe i h-mol" (1749), når han løbe- eller styrketræner. Den to timer lange messe passer med Marcellos ord eminent til en nutidig bevidsthed, der konstant vil underholdes: "Det er musik, der ikke tillader, at man kommer til at kede sig. Der sker noget konstant". Det er for Marcello et perfekt afbalanceret værk og kulminationen på Bachs teknik, hvor et væld af stemmer skaber en detaljerig helhed, der på én gang indfanger og fastholder lytteren. I podcasten spilles der uddrag fra 1.-satsen "Kyrie Eleison" i en udgave med Gärchinger Kantorei Stuttgart og Freiburger Barockorchester (2015). Varighed: 7:59

On this week's Encore Houston, the Houston Chamber Choir and an orchestra of local musicians bring Bach back to life with a rousing performance of his monumental Mass in B minor. Before there were symphonies and operas, settings of the Latin Mass were the most prominent creative milestones for composers, dating back to at least the fourteenth century. And even centuries later, they are among several composers' best known works with popular settings from Mozart, Verdi, Durufle,... Read More

Bernard Chazelle is Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and a member of the European Academy of Sciences. He’s authored an extensive collection of essays on music for A Tiny Revolution. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Bernard Chazelle — Discovering the Cosmology of Bach.” Find more at onbeing.org.

Computer scientist Bernard Chazelle has an original take on what music works in us — especially the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Just as mathematicians talk about discovering rather than inventing great equations, so, he says, Bach set out to “discover” the musical rules behind the universe. After hearing this conversation, you may never listen to any piece of music — whether Bach or Jay-Z — in quite the same way again.

Can you guess this piece? Here's a hint: A musical job transfer!

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: A musical job transfer!

Hugh Johnson's career was spawned when he became a member of the Wine and Food Society at Cambridge University. He soon made a name for himself as a writer on wine and produced the best-selling World Atlas of Wine in 1971. In conversation with Roy Plomley, he talks about his interest in wine, about his other great enthusiasm - gardening - and he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Mass In B Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The complete works by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Writing materials and lots of bottles

Hugh Johnson's career was spawned when he became a member of the Wine and Food Society at Cambridge University. He soon made a name for himself as a writer on wine and produced the best-selling World Atlas of Wine in 1971. In conversation with Roy Plomley, he talks about his interest in wine, about his other great enthusiasm - gardening - and he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Mass In B Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The complete works by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Writing materials and lots of bottles