Neither of these versions of Bach's Mass in B minor will make much, if any appeal to readers who appreciate developments which have taken place in the performance of baroque music over the past 25 years or so. Yet there are qualities, above all in the Klemperer version, which command our attention and sometimes deeply impress our sensibilities. I would, for example, always prefer Klemperer's monumental, grave and to my ears over-ponderous Kyrie—all 24 minutes of it—to some of the hurried, scrappy and superficial readings on period instruments which I have heard in the concert hall and occasionally on disc.
Klemperer's concept of the Mass is awe-inspiring not because it is slow (that to my mind is one of its serious drawbacks), but because it is thought out in meticulous detail with careful and consistent phrasing, has the clear articulation of an orator and comes over as both lovingly and deeply felt. Furthermore, instrumental playing is disciplined and crisp in ensemble and the line-up of soloists fascinating to anyone with a lively interest in the evolution of vocal techniques: Dame Janet Baker never sang more persuasively than at this stage in her career and Agnes Giebel, though past her best form, gives a fair account of the ''Domine Deus'' with Nicolai Gedda. Sadly, it is the BBC Chorus which I find least acceptable here. It sounds vast and has all the shortcomings of very large choirs—spongy entries, blurred focus, raucous tenors and stentorian, growling basses. The New Philharmonia Orchestra is on the excellent form which typified its playing in the 1960s; the brass and timpani are thunderous in the Gloria but there are many instances of delicately shaded passages from the obbligato players, above all Gareth Morris playing a wooden Rudall-Carte flute, although he is inclined to hurry, and Sidney Sutcliffe and Michael Winfield on oboes d'amore. The continuo group is much too stern and unyielding for my taste but it never could be accused of failing to do its job.
Robert Shaw recorded his version of the B minor Mass last year, although there is little here to suggest that it belongs to any other era than that of Klemperer. Shaw's tempos are in almost every instance faster than Klemperer's, though as often as not insignificantly so; the Atlanta Chamber Chorus sounds pretty sizeable to me, and pretty lacklustre, too—indeed, the Kyrie, though almost five minutes shorter than Klemperer's seems interminable with long drawn out legato phrases which are lamely articulated. The ''Christe eleison'' section comes over more convincingly though the upper strings sound scrawny and the rhythm is not steady.
The soloists provided my chief source of enjoyment. The two sopranos are well matched, John Aler has a fine voice and William Stone is impressively resonant. The Agnus Dei is well sung by Marietta Simpson though she is no match for Dame Janet Baker in the Klemperer. The instrumental- ists also comprise a strong and unified team with an engaging, lightly articulated violin solo in the ''Laudamus te'' and a jaunty inegale reading of the ''Domine Deus''. But the good intentions of the soloists are not enough to rescue the performance as a whole from seeming bland and comparatively aimless. That could never be said of Klemperer whose concept of the music and his evident familiarity with every architectural detail impose themselves on the listener right from the start. Klemperer, too, is better served by EMI's recording which is closer than the Telarc balance though in no way constricted.
In conclusion, I must say that neither of these versions is for me; I shall happily return to Andrew Parrott (EMI) or Gustav Leonhardt (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/BMG) for period-instrument performances with scaled-down forces; and should I want to hear one with modern instruments and a larger choir then it would probably be the mid-price Karl Richter version (Archiv Produktion (CD) 427 155-2AGA2), though it, too, is patchy.'