What a world of difference lies between Bach Collegium Japan’s performance of Bach’s music (BIS), which I have just been reviewing for these pages, and this recording made by the BBC in 1951. I cannot remember exactly when I first heard Bach’s B minor Mass, but it was probably two or three years after this performance. Listening to it now, I realize why I took so long to feel the affection for this piece that I was soon to show towards the cantatas. After 1950, the bicentenary of Bach’s death, ideas about performing his music began to change. But, unlike the Mass, the cantatas had no established performing tradition, and no particularly reverential attitude existed towards music that had seldom if ever been heard in the concert hall. The Mass and the St Matthew Passion, on the other hand, had half a century of performing tradition behind them and, consequently, were less susceptible to change. In short, I believe that performances such as this one, conducted by George Enescu, were comparatively old-fashioned even in their own time. While none of this detracts from the intrinsic merit of Enescu’s recording, with its fine solo group and orchestra, it does pose problems for ears accustomed to all that has taken place since the 1950s.
For me, the chief stumbling-blocks in this performance are the relatively poor choral discipline from what is probably quite a large choir, and the ponderous tempos which are no more nor less than a faithful reflection of the taste of the time. Neither the choral sound, nor the contours of the many seamless legatos are granted any favours by the recorded sound and this further aggravates the problem. While it must now be clear to readers that this performance is not really much to my liking, it would be ungenerous and indeed prejudiced of me not to concede some virtues. I have long been an admirer of the Boyd Neel Orchestra and here, as so often, it lends enormous support to the singers. There are also many beautiful instrumental obbligatos, and notably the violin solo in the ‘Laudamus te’, fervently sung by Kathleen Ferrier. This and Ferrier’s Agnus Dei are to be treasured, as is the singing of Suzanne Danco. Indeed it is for the solo contributions, vocal and instrumental, for the fact that the performance is conducted by Enescu, and for a fascinating memory of him by Yehudi Menuhin, that the set is worth investigating. But few, I fear, in this age of press-button technology, will have the patience to sit out some of the slowest of the tempos. A document.'