Munchinger's recording was outstanding in its time, as good a performance as traditional (but not dry) Bach scholarship offered, dramatic but not theatrical. Another 'stream' was initiated six years later by Harnoncourt, that of a full return to the performance practices of Bach's own time, which pace Equal Rights, included the exclusion of women's voices; since that time the two streams have co-existed quite happily.
With excellent soloists (Pears and Watts in particular), impeccable and responsive obbligato players, and with the larger forces sympathetically managed, this version still offers very good value to anyone who may be in the market for one of a comfortably familiar kind. The ease with which one may hear the words (full texts supplied, with English and French translations) attests to the clarity of the recording.'