Bruckner: Mass in e, etc / Bernius, Kammerchor Stuttgart

This disc is an amazing example of the hubris of a major classical label at the height of its imperial aspirations. Imagine the Columbia Records of the '60s releasing a record of Bruckner's Mass in E minor. Imagine the Sony of the new millennium releasing a disc by a provincial German chorus and an unknown conductor. Now be grateful that in 1991 that Sony, at the height of its aspirations, saw fit to record a splendid provincial German chorus and a brilliant unknown conductor in a magnificent recording of Bruckner's tremendous Mass in E minor. How else would there come to exist so wonderful a performance as this one by Frieder Bernius leading the Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Deutsche Blaserphilharmonie? The sound of the Stuttgart choir is pure, strong, and ardent. The conducting of Bernius is warm, strong, and compelling. And the recording by Sony is clear, strong, and reverberant. Indeed, this recording of Bruckner's Mass in E minor is among the most accomplished ever recorded and the four unaccompanied motets included after the mass are truly exquisite. But isn't the height of hubris for a Japanese record label to issue a disc in the United States with the artists listed as the Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Deutsche Blaserphilharmonie?