All of Bach, in daily installments

The Netherlands Bach Society, led by Jos van Veldhoven, is the troupe that performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor five times in six days during an April 2007 US tour that concluded, with no visible or audible wear and tear, at the University of Richmond. (My review of the UR performance can be read here: http://letterv.blogspot.com/2007/04/review-netherlands-bach-society.html)

Further reinforcing the perception that Bach is a kind of endurance sport in the Netherlands, the society now has launched a project to post daily video performances of each of the composer’s 1,080 extant compositions.

As of today, it’s six down (that is, up), 1,074 to go. Completion of the series is expected in eight years.

Here’s the project’s home page:

http://allofbach.com/nl/

(via Norman Lebrecht: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/)