The release of this album is part of the 60th anniversary celebration for the Munich Bach Choir and Munich Bach Orchestra, whose 1950s and 1960s recordings under longtime conductor Karl Richter exposed a great many listeners to Baroque repertory. The years and conductorship of Hansjörg Albrecht haven't substantially changed the group's sound, and what was once cutting-edge is now downright conservative in style, with the 76 choristers making up one of the largest Bach choirs on the contemporary scene. Paired with the crisp, ...
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The release of this album is part of the 60th anniversary celebration for the Munich Bach Choir and Munich Bach Orchestra, whose 1950s and 1960s recordings under longtime conductor Karl Richter exposed a great many listeners to Baroque repertory. The years and conductorship of Hansjörg Albrecht haven't substantially changed the group's sound, and what was once cutting-edge is now downright conservative in style, with the 76 choristers making up one of the largest Bach choirs on the contemporary scene. Paired with the crisp, historically oriented style of the Munich Bach Orchestra, they still have the virtues that have made them famous: the superb ensemble that sculpts out clean lines even in dense polyphony; the gradual, sober build that for so many hearers represented the quintessential Bach sound; and the heft that incorporates the trumpets in a big piece like the Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, into the overall sound. That is a very familiar work, and so is the "Jesu, joy of man's desiring" chorus...
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