Mike Leghorn wrote:

>I have a question: what is the big deal about Bach's Mass in B minor?
>Why (according to the liner notes in my Eliot Gardiner recording) in
>1817 did Swiss critic Hans-Georg Nageli acclaim the piece as the "greatest
>work of music of all ages and of all peoples"?  (I doubt that he knew
>the music of "all peoples".) I can't seem to get into this piece.  I
>find it boring.  Is my recording faulty?  Should I get my hearing checked?

If the only one you have is the Eliot Gardiner, it's tempting to say
yes.  I find it boring as well, although I tink it one of the greatest
works of all time.

Others will doubtless weigh in with other recommendations, but I've yet
to find a period instrument performance that really satisfies me.  Richter
on DG Archiv remains my yardstick, even after 35 years (the recording
is actually from 1961).  Marriner on Philips is also very fine.

Deryk Barker
Victoria Times Colonist