Mass in B Minor
JS Bach
The Bach Choir and Florilegium
Conducted by David Hill
Nardus Williams, Helen Charlston, Sam Furness, Neal Davies
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
26 May 2026
Bach’s monumental B Minor mass is often deemed by the cognoscenti (including David Hill in his programme note for this concert) to be one of the greatest works ever written. And it has an interesting history. Bach never heard it performed in its entirety. Its UK debut didn’t take place until 1876 and the Bach Choir – celebrating its sesquicentennial this year – was specifically formed for that performance. So anniversaries were in the air at this 2026 performance which was, poignantly, dedicated to Dame Felicity Lott, Bach Choir vice-president who died after the programme was printed so David Hill opened the concert with a verbal tribute.
You can’t beat the Bach Choir for rich, coherent, incisive sound and the Mass got off to a flying start with the choir singing the opening Kyrie off-book. Thereafter the many highlights in a fine performance with very few weak moments included the colour of the trumpets allowed to sing out in Gratias agimus tibi and mezzo Helen Charlston’s beautifully meditative tone in Qui sedes. In the second half I loved the dramatic contrast Hill drew from the choir at Et resurrexit a dn the beauty of the Benedictus with tenor (Ben Furness – good) with solo flute and cello. And when we reached Agnus dei with all those minor falling phrases Charlston, who has some powerful bottom notes packed it with the requisite plaintiveness. Best of all though was Dona nobis pacem in all its climatic glory right through to the timp entry. What is it about a work like this which transcends robust disbelief and moves you to tears anyway? Somehow it’s greater than any individual’s religious squeamishness.
It was a treat to watch Florigilegium at work and to hear the authentic sound their period instruments create. And it’s a lovely idea to stand soloists in their sections (is this what would have happened in Bach’s time?) so that they can be seen as well as heard. There are many fabulous solos in the B Minor Mass and it’s a treat to see them celebrated – especially, for example, leader Huw Daniel dueting with soprano Nardus Williams in Laudamus te.
On a personal note (pun intended) I have huge admiration for people who play period violins and violas. Most have no chin or shoulder rest and the shorter neck of the instrument means that it almost all has to be played in first position. I suppose you get used to it and it’s a chosen specialism, but I don’t envy anyone having to play a two hour work in this way.
The important thing, though, was the sound: rousing, reflective and immaculately controlled. I shan’t forget that Sanctus for a long time. This take on Bach’s most famous mass more than marked the 150 years since they first did it. I think Dame Felicity would have approved.
