New modern-instrument performances of Bach are more the exception than the rule these days, though the gap in the underlying positions of 'traditional' versus 'historically aware' is evidently narrowing if this recording is anything to go by. Peter Schreier's new account of the Magnificat shows the extent to which period performance is making itself felt on mainstream artists who have been rather inscrutable in the past as regards newfangled fashions. Here we have a Gardineresque tempo in the opening, clear textures, lively and balletic articulation, soft trumpet punctuations barely a ritardando in sight and a homogeneous and agile instrumental and vocal consort. One would think that with the added tonal possibilities of modern instruments and a fine line-up of soloists, we should have the best of both worlds. In the Magnificat at least, this is not quite the case. There are some stunning vocal vignettes (Barbara Bonney's ''Quia respexit'' is wonderfully intimate) but the overall impression is of relentless choppiness in the strings and a shortage of the warmth and cultivated nuance which one often associates with those who also perform music from later periods. Although a mellifluous turn of phrase is harder to bring off on modern strings than with period instruments, this undeniable reality—which very few (Harnoncourt at the forefront of success) manage to recondle—has to be broached. Despite some unyielding playing, the CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra is a fine ensemble and the choir too is a highly professional outfit, most notable for an outstanding soprano line. Schreier's approach is generally understated (''Omnes generationes'' for instance) and most movements are executed with real aplomb but the whole does not comprise enough to compete with leading versions from Hickox, Gardiner and Marriner.
The Masses are far more persuasively projected and in several cases rival Philippe Herreweghe's sensitive and soft-grained performances on Virgin. Schreier, after all, is a Bachian of some vintage, if not as a director. Yet he puts a strong case for these unglamorous parodies (which Bach probably worked on between 1735-40) whose reputation suffered from critical denigration well before Schweitzer called them ''perfunctory and occasionally quite non-sensical''. All four Masses are, even if some original sources no longer exist, reworked from cantata movements. Relegated in the minds of some by the pragmatic nature of their creation (Malcolm Boyd suggests that the Dresden court, for which Bach wrote the first two sections of the Mass in B minor in 1733, may have been the dedicatee), they have consequently become something of the poor relation in Bach's magisterial vocal output—a fervent Protestant cannot surely have been as committed to the mass as the cantata? If you know Cantatas Nos. 79 and 179, then the adaptation of movements from their original rhetorical territory can be somewhat disorienting (as can the amazing dialogue from No. 67 between Christ and His disciples, reappearing in the A major Mass) but rarely disappointing. Without knowing the originals, one cannot fail to be struck by the beauty of this music. Bach enthusiasts who look hard and objectively will soon realize, too that the transcription process in the majority of cases is remarkably skilful. Anyway, who could possibly criticize Bach's choice of movements which he obviously viewed as creations to be proud of?
Schreier often succeeds in these works in ways where he is found wanting in the Magnificat, seeming less restricted than when he is operating within the inevitable expectations of the established 'warhorse'. How beautifully moulded then is the unassuming fugal opening of the F major Mass, followed by an exuberant and brilliantly executed Gloria. Here we have all the sensitivity of shading which was absent before. Bonney shows exemplary control in ''Qui tollis'' as she does so affectingly in the gliding equivalent in the A major Mass. Schreier is less red-blooded than Rilling in the G minor though the splendid Kyrie is affectingly light and heady. Olaf Bar, as in the F major, sings in a pitch which seems uncomfortably low without for my taste, the desired resonance. Birgit Remmert is an accomplished singer and compensates for the somewhat monochrome, if technically able performance of Rainer Trost. There are some distinctive Schreier mannerisms, at their worst resulting in a Teutonic stiffness in the G major Mass but the care over detail here and in the finest work, the A major Mass, is largely admirable; the latter holds together as well as the F major and these two are clearly the most successful performances, both demonstrating a sense of poetry which does not always come easily to Schreier's Bach. Despite some fine solo singing and a few exceptional choruses, it is, however, still Herreweghe's gentle and sympathetic phrasing which pips Schreier's more rigorous but uncompromising approach to the post.'