Well said, Sugarbrie!! The "authentic" stuff is often only interesting musicologically. Most of these recordings are bloodless, flimsy, thin and emotionless. Regarding the point of "not so good musicians" you are not correct, I'm afraid. The orchestras played on extraordinarily high levels (a Stradivari was not worth a million or more!!), as did the singers. Just look into the notes of the solo partitas: today a specialist's lifetime effort, in the time of Bach selfunderstood in the repertoire.
The fact that poor Johann Sebastian had to put up with the misfortune of being a teacher/conductor at the Thomaskirche with all its drawbacks is the reason for many "authentic" readings to copy these difficulties (strange, I agree). But it doesn't mean Bach would not have liked to hear his choral works in appropriate manner like he for sure heard his Brandenburg Concertos f.e.. In this respect the Hengelbrock
b minor Mass recording is the most "authentic": perfect in every way and realizing all we know about phrasing, dynamics, rhetoric gesture etc. of Bach's music. The live concert of this piece I attended a couple of weeks ago was even better than the CD. The choir sang by heart (!), the soloists were choir singers, in the orchestra there was an incredible musical intelligence which means that during every second everybody on the stage knew what each musician did at that very second, a "togetherness" very rarely heard and seen. There are only very few ensembles out there who perform like that. Only this way, however, the spirit of Bach's work is reflected to the fullest. Of course there is no such thing as a 253 year old recording but we have sources galore how the musicians used to play at the time AND how Bach wanted the musicians to perform!
The fact that poor Johann Sebastian had to put up with the misfortune of being a teacher/conductor at the Thomaskirche with all its drawbacks is the reason for many "authentic" readings to copy these difficulties (strange, I agree). But it doesn't mean Bach would not have liked to hear his choral works in appropriate manner like he for sure heard his Brandenburg Concertos f.e.. In this respect the Hengelbrock
b minor Mass recording is the most "authentic": perfect in every way and realizing all we know about phrasing, dynamics, rhetoric gesture etc. of Bach's music. The live concert of this piece I attended a couple of weeks ago was even better than the CD. The choir sang by heart (!), the soloists were choir singers, in the orchestra there was an incredible musical intelligence which means that during every second everybody on the stage knew what each musician did at that very second, a "togetherness" very rarely heard and seen. There are only very few ensembles out there who perform like that. Only this way, however, the spirit of Bach's work is reflected to the fullest. Of course there is no such thing as a 253 year old recording but we have sources galore how the musicians used to play at the time AND how Bach wanted the musicians to perform!