Helmuth Rilling conducts Bach's Mass in B minor
City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall Aug 17, 8pm
When a great composer and a great interpreter of his greatest works come together, a special occasion is usually in the offing. Hopes are high, therefore, that Wednesday's City Hall performance of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor conducted by Helmuth Rilling will prove to be just that.
Rilling is one of the leading authorities on Bach's music, having tirelessly promoted the composer's output around the world throughout his career. Now aged 78, the German conductor continues to criss-cross the globe with a schedule of performances and education projects that would make many a younger practitioner wilt.
The cherry on the cake is that all the performers are drawn from Hong Kong: a chorus comprising Die Konzertisten and the Hong Kong Melody Makers (chorus masters Patrick Chiu and Apollo Wong), the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and soloists soprano Yuki Ip Po-ching, mezzo soprano Louise Kwong, tenor Alex Tam Tin-lok and bass baritone Apollo Wong.
Rilling was the first to record all of Bach's 200 cantatas and was the driving force behind the gargantuan undertaking to commit the master's entire catalogue to 172 CDs in time for the 250th anniversary of his death in 2000. In all Bach's output, however, the Mass in B minor occupies a special place. 'I would call it the summa, the climax,' Rilling says. 'It is his last great oratorio written in the last years of his life, so he brings everything together which he has done before.'
Although many of Bach's sacred vocal works are best heard in a church setting, performing the Mass in B minor in a concert hall seems entirely natural. Bach did not give a performance of it during his lifetime, Rilling says, because 'the piece was too long for a church service, and concerts in churches like today did not exist. It is a piece he thought of as a sort of heritage to mankind'.