Mass in B Minor

"[The] constantly changing texture makes us listen afresh to the beauty of Bach's astonishing vocal writing. It's a joy to hear the principal singers...working together as a chorus, moving like a precision machine, each line clear and uncluttered under John Butt's meticulous direction. A definitive recording." The Observer, 23rd May 2010

"Butt opts for 10 solo voices, his liner notes justifying when lines should be sung by two voices and when by just the one...His performance is powerful and beautifully shaped" Sunday Times, 20th June 2010 ***

"The Dunedin Consort's premiere recording of Joshua Rifkin's scholarly edition of Bach's B-minor Mass has many attractive features: the emphatic "k" that launches the first Kyrie (the orchestra sounding on the vowel), closely dovetailed counterpoint...and a calm but purposeful sense of narrative." The Independent, 13th June 2010

"Surely no other recording of Bach's B Minor Mass bounces along with such joy as this...Lots of clarity, too, partly thanks to the slimmed-down forces, featuring only ten voices ...no clouds cover the instrumental finesse in an interpretation that eschews weighty grandeur for light and smiling exultation." The Times, 12th June 2010 ****

"...the Dunedin Consort and Players are never perfunctory or merely dogmatic...Butt's insightful direction and scholarship, integrated with the Dundin's extremely accomplished instrumental playing and consort singing, amount to an enthralling and revelatory collective interpretation" Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

"Butt's players generate a lively sense of forward motion...No performance could better justify small-scale Bach than this convincing marriage of scholarship and inspiration." BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 *****

"It's a performance full of air and lightness; the instrumental textures have a springing, dancing vitality, the voices are perfectly focused, and agile...overall this is a fascinating and hugely rewarding account of one of the imperishable masterpieces of the western musical tradition." The Guardian, 22nd July 2010 ****