Anton Bruckner - The 3 Masses (Eugen Jochum)

Information

Composer: Anton Bruckner

CD1:

• (01-06) Mass No. 1 in D minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra
• (07-09) Mass No. 2 in E minor, for 8-part choir & wind orchestra

CD2:

• (01-03) Mass No. 2 in E minor, for 8-part choir & wind orchestra (cont.)
• (04-10) Mass No. 3 in F minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra

Edith Mathis, soprano (No. 1)
Marga Schiml, alto/contralto (No. 1)
Wieslaw Ochman, tenor (No. 1)
Karl Ridderbusch, bass (No. 1)
Elmar Schloter, organ (No. 1)
Maria Stader, soprano (No. 3)
Claudia Hellmann, alto/contralto (No. 3)
Ernst Haefliger, tenor (No. 3)
Kim Borg, bass (No. 3)
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Eugen Jochum, conductor

Date: 1962 (No. 3), 1971 (No. 2), 1972 (No. 1)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4474092

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Review

The Gramophone Choice

Like Bruckner, Eugen Jochum came from a devout Catholic family and began his musical life as a church organist. He would have known the Mass texts more or less inside out, which explains why his readings focus not on the sung parts – which, for the most part, present the text in a relatively foursquare fashion – but on the orchestral writing which, given the gloriously full-bodied playing of the Bavarian orchestra, so lusciously illuminates familiar words. He approaches the Masses with many of the same ideas he so eloquently propounds in his recordings of the symphonies and the music unfolds with a measured, almost relaxed pace which creates a sense of vast spaciousness. This can have its drawbacks: you can be so entranced by the beautifully moulded orchestral introduction to the Benedictus from the D minor Mass that the entry of a rather full-throated Marga Schiml comes as a rude interruption. DG’s transfers are extraordinarily good – they really seem to have produced a sound which combines the warmth of the original LP with the clarity of detail we expect from CD.

-- Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/bruckner-sacred-choral-works-2
http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Messen-Masses-Nos-Messes/dp/B000001GQ6
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Masses-Nos-1-3-Originals/dp/B000001GQ6

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Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896)) was an Austrian composer. His symphonies are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner composed eleven symphonies, scored for a fairly standard orchestra. His orchestration was modeled after the sound of his primary instrument, the pipe organ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Bruckner

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Eugen Jochum (1 November 1902 – 26 March 1987) was an eminent German conductor. Jochum is considered by many to have been the foremost Bruckner conductor of the mid- to late twentieth century; he producing many outstanding recordings of Bruckner's symphonies (as well as worthy interpretations of a great many other composers).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Jochum

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