Bach: Mass in B minor

Performance with solo voices, which has become the trademark of Cantus Cölln, should not be seen as a dogmatic position in this version of the B minor Mass, but as an alternative style of interpretation. It allows the often extremely complicated contrapuntal web of Bach's polyphonic style to be presented with great clarity. Hence it becomes possible to hear interrelations that are usually drowned in generalised sonic exhilaration. In such movements as the 'Et incarnates' and the 'Crucifixus' the personal emotional statement becomes much more individual and striking. What is more, the altered performing conditions result in new, unexpected and surprising balances and sonorities.

Founded in 1987 by Konrad Junghänel, the Cantus Cölln vocal ensemble soon came to be regarded as one of the finest ensembles of the kind on the international musical scene. It devotes itself essentially to the Italian and German Renaissance and Baroque repertories and the rediscovery of an entire, but hitherto rather neglected musical production has met with resounding public success. Its first record (Schein's Diletti Pastorali) won several international awards. The ensemble is occasionally augmented for the performance of sacred music calling for larger forces, such as the cantatas by the cantors of St. Thomas of Leipzig, the cantatas of Rosenmüller, etc.

The members of the Cantus Cölln are all singers with successful careers as soloists, but everyone who has heard it has been struck by the extraordinary homogeneity of the ensemble which has not, however, sacrificed the specific vocal qualities of its individual members. According to the periodical Diapason, it is one of the outstanding revelations in recent years in the field of early music. Its performances throughout Europe (the festivals of Herne, Stuttgart, Utrecht, Innsbruck, Breslau, etc.) and abroad (North America, Asia) have confirmed its reputation, as have the recordings that the Cantus Cölln have been making for several years.

Since 1996 Cantus Cölln has recorded exclusively for harmonia mundi France.