Bach: Mass In B Minor Cantata BWV 56

Catalogue # 4802338

Bach, J S: Mass in B minor, BWV232
Margaret Marshall (soprano I), Janet Baker (soprano II / alto), Robert Tear (tenor) & Samuel Ramey (bass)
Academy and Chorus of St. Martin in the Fields

Cantata BWV56 'Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen'
John Shirley-Quirk (baritone)
The St. Anthony Singers & Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

Neville Marriner

For long out of the catalogue, Marriner’s (Philips) recording of Bach’s B Minor Mass, with an array of splendid soloists, returns to circulation. Its coupling is the first release on CD of this recording of the deeply moving Cantata BWV 56 ‘Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen’. It was one of two (extant) Bach cantatas for bass voice alone (the other being BWV 82 ‘Ich habe genug’: Shirley-Quirk’s recording with Marriner appears on Decca Eloquence 476 2684). The two items were recorded thirteen years apart, the Cantata in April 1964 and the Mass in June-July 1977. The partnership of Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is possibly the most recorded of all partnerships in recorded classical music. This pioneering 2CD set is issued in celebration of the Academy’s 50th anniversary this year and these recordings form part of a series of Marriner reissues on Eloquence.