Bach’s Mass in B Minor is among the most ambitious choral works in the repertoire — a summation of a lifetime’s compositional thought, assembling music spanning three decades into a single, vast architectural whole. It was never performed complete in Bach’s lifetime. That it now receives performances at all is itself an act of reconstruction and faith.
Solomon’s Knot performs it entirely from memory — a commitment that demands a different order of preparation, and that returns something essential to the music. Polyphonic transparency, ensemble balance, and the precise articulation of Bach’s contrapuntal and rhetorical lines emerge not from a conductor’s direction but from the singers’ deep internalisation of text and music together.
A work of extraordinary scope, sung by heart.
JS Bach Mass in B Minor BWV 232
Soprano I Miriam Allan, Clare Lloyd-Griffiths
Soprano II Zoë Brookshaw, Ciara Hendrick
Alto William Shelton, Kate Symonds-Joy
Tenor Gwilym Bowen, Thomas Herford
Bass Alex Ashworth, Jonathan Sells (artistic director)
Violin I Magdalena Loth-Hill (leader), Agata Daraškaitė
Violin II George Clifford, Gabi Jones
Viola Joanne Miller
Cello Sarah McMahon
Double Bass Jan Zahourek
Flute Eva Caballero, Marta Gonçalves
Oboe Daniel Lanthier, Robert de Bree
Bassoon Inga Maria Klaucke, Ester van der Veen
Horn Anneke Scott
Trumpet Russell Gilmour, William Russell, Sam Kinrade
Timpani Rosemary Toll
Harpsichord James Johnstone
Organ William Whitehead
