The Sixteen:Christophers - Bach: Lutheran Masses

Despite their exquisite beauty, featuring splendid choruses and deeply moving arias, there are relatively few recordings of Bach's Lutheran Masses. On this new collection The Sixteen orchestra is joined by just eight singers to perform the Masses, allowing the beauty of the virtuosic vocal lines to be heard with absolute clarity.Sometimes called 'Missa brevis', the Lutheran Masses feature almost no Lutheran material at all. Musically, they are almost entirely made up of movements borrowed from Bach's Cantatas and their beauty is in the fact that they represent the composer's own choice of his finest Cantata movements. It is 20 years since The Sixteen last recorded such a wealth of Bach's music, making this a uniquely exciting project. Volume II will be released in the spring of 2014.