Well, since everyone from Wes and Donald to Mimi, Steve and Derek swear by
the Mass in B minor; I decided to pick it up.  Among versions available,
(used), were the Herreweghe, Marriner, Gardiner, and Bruggen.  More on my
choice later.

There is definitely much for the romantically inclined in this music.  The
Kyrie fugue subject has a touching and contrite poignancy, and I found the
the chord progressions in the Qui tollis surprisingly modern-sounding.  The
Agnus Dei is a beauty.

The performance? Marriner, (with Iona Brown as concertmaster), in his
heyday--'77.  Soloists include Marshall, Baker, Tear, and Ramey.  (I
remembered Derek didn't care for the Gardiner, the choir is too distant
in the Bruggen, and Herreweghe just never looks fun in his pictures.) Yes,
modern instruments, but the Gramophone reports that the bounds of taste are
never overstepped, and this listener found the articulation of both the
choir and the instrumentalists to be sufficiently precise and incisive.

There were times when I wished that the dialogue between solists and
instrumentalist was a little more "tangy" and animated, (as these moments
can be in Gardiner's "Matthew's Passion); and sometimes, such as when the
flute comes in at the beginning of the Qui Tollis, I am uncomfortably
reminded of Respihi's "Ancient Airs and Dances"--maybe there *is* something
to this HIP stuff.  (Though I sure appreciate the resonance the modern
basses lend to those chord progressions in the Qui Tollis.)

John Smyth