Photo, BBC/Chris Christodoulou

REVIEWED FROM LIVE RELAY ON BBC RADIO 3

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Royal Albert Hall, London

Assembled in 1749 (the year before he died) the Mass in B-minor (BWV232) may be regarded as the pinnacle or grand culmination of J. S. Bach’s compositional career. For this antepenultimate Prom of the 2026 season, my past with this sacred (and secular) masterpiece dictated that I approached this ‘period’ performance from the perspective of recordings by Celibidache, Giulini, Jochum, and Klemperer (if rarely listened to, if I may be honest) and also the occasional ‘authentic’-leaning account. From Arcangelo (chorus and orchestra) there was immediate gravitas to the opening, the Royal Albert Hall standing-in (sort of) for a cathedral. In short, of many notable moments, there were vibrant ceremonial trumpets and hard-stick timpani, solo horn dexterity, and of course singing and playing, which was impressively communicative as well as technically masterly. Jonathan Cohen’s tempos were neither rushed nor dragged – a few minutes short of one-hour-fifty (not sure if the interval was needed though, the ‘Credo’ resuming the rendition) – whether heavenly or earthly with thrilling increases of pace that, as an example, made for a joyous close to the ‘Gloria’, whereas the ‘Sanctus’ was majestic. This stimulating and moving experience could bounce along infectiously; however, the final ‘Dona nobis pacem’ (the plea as relevant as ever) was unbearably poignant – on the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of ‘9/11’.

Jeanine De Bique (soprano)
Eva Zaïcik (soprano)
Hugh Cutting (counter-tenor)
Nick Pritchard (tenor)
Florian Störtz (bass-baritone)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen (director/harpsichord)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030vhw

“Autograph of the first page of Symbolum Nicenum, beginning with the Gregorian chant Credo in the tenor”