The great Carlo Maria Giulini was once asked by Richard Osborne "if he could conceive of conducting a work like the B minor Mass without a religious faith." His answer: "I cannot tell you what it would be to do this work without a faith, because it is impossible for me to understand how it is possible to live without faith; to think that inside the human body there is no, as we say, 'soul'. I can only say that I have this gift of faith. I believe."
I have been listening to Giulini's 1972 recording of the work, with Jenny Hill, Janet Baker, Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk and the New Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus performed in St. Paul's Cathedral. It is splendid.
I have been listening to Giulini's 1972 recording of the work, with Jenny Hill, Janet Baker, Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk and the New Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus performed in St. Paul's Cathedral. It is splendid.
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