RICCARDO MUTI: There is another issue about what kind of singers to use.
We have the names of the singers who sang the numbers of the mass for
the first time. The soprano was the very famous Faustina Bordoni. The
tenor was a castrato, Giovanni Bindi. And then the basso and contralto,
the names are Cosìmo Ermini and Margherita Ermini. So four Italian
singers. What is incredible is that most of them used to sing in the
"intermezzi buffi," so in the comic operas. That destroys completely
what has become the tradition of a certain way of singing without
vibrato, with a voice that sometimes reminds me of the trains that go
from Vienna to Berlin, this kind of "eeeee."

Bach wrote his music paying great attention to the meaning of the words.
I remember the first time I did this mass in Vienna with the Vienna
Philharmonic and a chamber choir that is one of the most famous
specialists in this repertoire. They are intonation perfect. It's
incredible. But when they started to sing "Kyrie elei..." I collapsed.
In the Musikverein for me it was the first experience to hear sounds
like knives.

ANDREW PATNER: Or like a drill.

MUTI: I said, "Do you realize that you are saying, 'Lord have mercy'? If
you say 'Lord have mercy' in this way you go to the inferno immediately
with the direct train."

WFMT broadcast, April 8, 2013

from "A Portrait in 4 Movements: The Chicago Symphony under Barenboim,
Boulez, Haitink, and Muti" by Andrew Patner

On Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 10:10:24 AM UTC-7, Tatonik wrote:
> RICCARDO MUTI: There is another issue about what kind of singers to use.
> We have the names of the singers who sang the numbers of the mass for
> the first time. The soprano was the very famous Faustina Bordoni. The
> tenor was a castrato, Giovanni Bindi. And then the basso and contralto,
> the names are Cosìmo Ermini and Margherita Ermini. So four Italian
> singers. What is incredible is that most of them used to sing in the
> "intermezzi buffi," so in the comic operas. That destroys completely
> what has become the tradition of a certain way of singing without
> vibrato, with a voice that sometimes reminds me of the trains that go
> from Vienna to Berlin, this kind of "eeeee."
>
> Bach wrote his music paying great attention to the meaning of the words.
> I remember the first time I did this mass in Vienna with the Vienna
> Philharmonic and a chamber choir that is one of the most famous
> specialists in this repertoire. They are intonation perfect. It's
> incredible. But when they started to sing "Kyrie elei..." I collapsed.
> In the Musikverein for me it was the first experience to hear sounds
> like knives.
>
> ANDREW PATNER: Or like a drill.
>
> MUTI: I said, "Do you realize that you are saying, 'Lord have mercy'? If
> you say 'Lord have mercy' in this way you go to the inferno immediately
> with the direct train."
>
> WFMT broadcast, April 8, 2013
>
> from "A Portrait in 4 Movements: The Chicago Symphony under Barenboim,
> Boulez, Haitink, and Muti" by Andrew Patner

http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics4/bachmass.html

On 21 Aug 2022 Tatonik wrote:

> Bach wrote his music paying great attention to the meaning of the words.
> I remember the first time I did this mass in Vienna with the Vienna
> Philharmonic and a chamber choir that is one of the most famous
> specialists in this repertoire. They are intonation perfect. It's
> incredible. But when they started to sing "Kyrie elei..." I collapsed.
> In the Musikverein for me it was the first experience to hear sounds
> like knives.

Muti perorming Bach's Mass in B Minor? Oh, the horror!

Chris

On 8/22/22 2:19 AM, Chris J. wrote:
> On 21 Aug 2022 Tatonik wrote:
>
>> Bach wrote his music paying great attention to the meaning of the words.
>> I remember the first time I did this mass in Vienna with the Vienna
>> Philharmonic and a chamber choir that is one of the most famous
>> specialists in this repertoire. They are intonation perfect. It's
>> incredible. But when they started to sing "Kyrie elei..." I collapsed.
>> In the Musikverein for me it was the first experience to hear sounds
>> like knives.
>
> Muti perorming Bach's Mass in B Minor? Oh, the horror!
>
> Chris

I think his comments in the interview make your fears unlikely.

Bob Harper