A rare and special quality was in evidence in the abundant fugal writing … The whole performance, like the music itself, was on an elevated plane.
Australian Chamber Choir & Melbourne Baroque Orchestra | Bach’s Mass in B minor
22 March 2026 3pm, The Scots’ Church Melbourne, VIC
Directed by Douglas Lawrence
J. S. Bach’s B minor Mass is one of the wonders of music history. Composed and repurposed for various reasons over many years, it somehow became an organic monument of his choral art. If the initial impetus was to impress a worldly prince, the work’s completion, not long before Bach’s death, seems to have been an act of personal fulfilment on a higher level. A good performance of this work must capture both the earthly skill and brilliance, and the overarching sense of order and serenity – and this was a very good performance indeed.
The Australian Chamber Choir and the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra, under the masterfully experienced direction of Douglas Lawrence, were perfectly balanced in numbers and in sonority. This was evident at every level from the most tender solos and duets to the most brilliant fanfare-like choruses; it was remarkable how much detail could be heard amid such striking impact. A rare and special quality was in evidence in the abundant fugal writing, from the first Kyrie on. In many performances of choral fugues, each entry of the subject is emphasised so heavily that the other voices are almost smothered; here both the fresh entries and the continuing counterpoints were perfectly clear and unforced. As a result one could feel both the broad flow of the movements and the artful filigree of the individual threads.
The choir’s excellent diction and the orchestra’s clean articulation, from the ever-reliable continuo up, supported some finely-judged choices of tempo. In the Sanctus, for instance, the opening triplets sounded light and fresh, but the descending bass line later on was still full of majesty.
The nine vocal soloists were drawn from the choir, all well-chosen to blend with the exquisite instrumental obligatos and, in the duets, with each other. All the movements were integrated with a minimum of fuss, ostentatious display set aside for what Bach himself, in a different context, called a “musical offering”.
The whole performance, like the music itself, was on an elevated plane.
By Richard Excell