Veteran Bach conductor Helmuth Rilling has remained active well into his eighth decade -- in both Germany and the U.S. where he co-founded the Oregon Bach Festival and has continued to serve as its artistic director. This handsome pairing of late Haydn masses (the Wind Band Mass, or Harmoniemesse, of 1802 was Haydn's last completed composition) features the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart -- one of Germany's excellent regional choirs -- on the Harmoniemesse, along with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Oregon ...
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Veteran Bach conductor Helmuth Rilling has remained active well into his eighth decade -- in both Germany and the U.S. where he co-founded the Oregon Bach Festival and has continued to serve as its artistic director. This handsome pairing of late Haydn masses (the Wind Band Mass, or Harmoniemesse, of 1802 was Haydn's last completed composition) features the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart -- one of Germany's excellent regional choirs -- on the Harmoniemesse, along with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra on the slightly earlier Heiligmesse. The performances were recorded in 2008, rounding out a series of similar discs in time for the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death in 2009. It's indicative of Rilling's skills that the two performances, in very different places (although both are groups of Rilling's creation), come out sounding quite consistent. The German choristers have a somewhat richer, more rounded sound than their probably younger American...
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