Eugen Jochum - Choral Recordings on Philips

"This performance is shaped by a first-class musician. The choral lines, as for example in the great fugue of the Kyrie, are moulded with loving care … The orchestra is unfailingly eloquent, and special praise is due to the various instrumental soloists." High Fidelity, October 1958 (Bach: Mass in B minor)

"A soft gently and dignified approach to the score that stresses its contemplative aspects." Choral Music on Record, 1991 (Bach: Mass in B minor)

"Jochum has apparently chosen the 'big' approach. And yet, despite the size of his performing bodies, he has avoided the pitfall of having them get lost in a mass of sound, by the expedient of keeping them moving." Stereo Review, December 1958 (Bach: Mass in B minor)

"The best St. Matthew Passion I have ever heard! The best choro-orchestral album of 1967!" Cincinnati Enquirer (Bach: St. Matthew Passion)

"A performance of considerable mass and scope … Haefliger is a very good Evangelist, skilled and understanding. Berry is in excellent form, rich-voiced and steady; he introduces more colour into his role than other performers of the part on records, stressing the human side of Jesus … Very good sound throughout." High Fidelity, January 1968 (Bach: St. Matthew Passion)

"The vocalists, it must be said, are among the best one could hear in any Bach Passion today; particularly admirable is Ernst Haefliger, who as the Evangelist provides drama, rhetoric, and sensitivity." Stereo Review, March 1968 (Bach: St. Matthew Passion)

"A loving, supple, dramatic and colourful reading, with much ebb and flow." Choral Music on Record, 1991 (Bach: St. Matthew Passion)

"A superbly convincing performance of the closing pages … Thrilling singing … A profound experience fully worthy of the music." Gramophone, April 1968 (Bach: St. John Passion)

"Sincere and deeply felt … The soloists are an experienced set vocally and always good to hear." Gramophone, April 1985 (Bach: St. John Passion)

"From nearly all standpoints an excellent performance … Rhythmically vital." Stereo Review, January 1974 (Bach: Christmas Oratorio)

"The choral singing is simply splendid, as vivid in brilliant choruses, as warm in quietly sustained music … The sheer artistry of everyone concerned commends it most to me, plus its superlative recording." Gramophone, September 1973 (Bach: Christmas Oratorio)

"Beautifully and incisively executed and well recorded." High Fidelity, February 1974 (Bach: Christmas Oratorio)

"This splendid performance and recording gave me very great pleasure … Jochum gets very good and finely pointed playing." Gramophone, March 1967 (Haydn)

"[Jochum's] abundant vitality is at once apparent at the start of the Gloria … and his feeling for line and mood is equally apparent at the start of the Gratias." Gramophone, October 1971 (Beethoven)

"Eugen Jochum has good soloists and a marvellous orchestra at his command, and he secures from them an eloquent and devotional performance." Stereo Review, June 1973 (Beethoven)

"The heart of the matter … truth … spiritual intensity can hardly be demonstrated as matters of fact, though to my mind Jochum has them." Choral Music on Record, 1991 (Beethoven)