These lively modern-instrument performances of Bach’s spectacular choral masterpiece with the C.P.E. Bach Chamber Orchestra are led by the distinguished German conductor and former tenor Peter Schreier and were recorded at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin. The Magnificat is coupled with the Missae breves, Bach’s quartet of short but beautiful Lutheran masses.
“The Schreier set can be warmly recommended … a fine, fresh account of the Magnificat. He has excellent soloists, notably Barbara Bonney and Olaf Bär, and the … digital sound is first class.” (The Penguin Guide)
“How beautifully moulded … is the unassuming fugal opening of the F major Mass, followed by an exuberant and brilliantly executed Gloria … Bonney shows exemplary control in “Qui tollis”, as she does so affectingly in the gliding equivalent in the A major Mass.” (Gramophone, February 1995)