I stopped in at Olsson's in DC a few days ago to use up some coupons and
discovered a recording of J.S. Bach's b minor mass, conducted by George
Enescu, w/ the Boyd Neel Orchestra, Susanne Danco,soprano; Kathleen
Ferrier, Contralto; Peter Pears, tenor; Bruce Boyce, baritone, and Norman
Walker, bass. It was a BBC Studio Recording, dated 17 July 1951 on a 2-CD
label (BBCL 4008-7)
I never heard of this performance before and bought it because it featured
Ferrier, Pears, Enescu, and the Boyd Neel orchestra. Easy to please as I
am generally, I liked the performance, but have a special plug for Kathleen
Ferrier in her solos (Laudamus te, Qui sedes ad dextram Paris, Agnus De and
the duets w/ soprano, Christe eleison, and et in unum Dominum).
The liner notes are strange, essentially a eulogy of Enescu the violinist
and teacher, by Yehudi Menuhin, w/ nothing about the recorded work the
notes accompany.
Finally, a question. This was on the BBC label. Does this mean that this
recording would have been distributed free w/ the magazine at one time.
It was marked at about US$25.00.
Walter Meyer
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