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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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BBC Proms

Music: Classical

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

The world's greatest classical music festival. Stunning performances, unique collaborations and the sheer joy of live music. Relive 2023's highlights before the new season begins.

2012

BBC Proms: 2012 Season: Prom 26

BBC Proms: 2012: Prom 26: Part 1: Bach: B Minor Mass - Part 1

Performances & Events

Part 1 Part 1: Bach: B Minor Mass - Part 1

Bach: B Minor Mass - Part 1

BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2012, Prom 26, Bach: B Minor Mass - Part 1

Johann Sebastian Bach's last religious will and testament - his monumental Mass in B minor

Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental Mass in B minor, performed by the English Concert, conductor Harry Bicket and a line-up of leading soloists.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Donald Macleod

Nobody knows why it was written - it's one of the great mysteries of Bach's life. Why did he spend so much of his last two years reworking religious music he'd already written into an enormous setting of the Catholic Mass, in Latin? It's tempting to see the B minor Mass as a drawing-together-of-threads, the great composer's last religious will and testament, a monumental summation of his decades of work for the church... albeit usually for the Protestant Church, in German. Since the nineteenth century the Mass has become one of Bach's best-loved works - though it's almost always performed, as here, in concert halls rather than churches. But the English Concert, conductor Harry Bicket and their starry lineup of soloists are sure to bring new insights: their performance comes fresh from Leipzig, where they closed the 2012 Bachfest with the B minor Mass - in Bach's own church, the Thomaskirche. 

J S Bach: Mass in B minor 

Joélle Harvey (soprano) 
Carolyn Sampson (soprano) 
Iestyn Davies (countertenor) 
Ed Lyon (tenor) 
Matthew Rose (bass) 
Choir of the English Concert 
The English Concert 
Harry Bicket conductor

This Prom will be repeated on Friday 10th August at 2pm.

BBC Proms: 2012

BBC Proms: 2012: Prom 26

Prom 26

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

All broadcasts from the 118th season of the BBC Proms.

The English Concert under Harry Bicket and leading soloists in Bach's Mass in B minor

A performance of Bach's monumental Mass in B minor, featuring the English Concert conducted by Harry Bicket and leading soloists

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Prom 26

Part 1: Bach: B Minor Mass - Part 1

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