Steve Reich’s 1974 composition Drumming and Karl Richter’s 1961 recording of Bach’s Mass in B minor are the next two entrants in German label Deutsche Grammophon’s audiophile reissue series The Original Source. Reich’s Drumming; Music For Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ; Six Pianos arrives on October 2, and Richter’s Bach: Messe in h-moll, BWV 232 follows on October 9.
The Reich reissue releases just a day before the American composer’s 90th birthday on October 3. The triad of pieces, recorded together at Hamburg’s Polydor Studios in January 1974, was a major milestone in his career: a key endorsement of a minimalist American composer from one of classical music’s most prestigious labels. When it was released in 1971, Drumming marked his longest work to date, extending for over an hour and a half. Both Six Pianos and Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ came out in 1973.
Richter recorded his version of Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra, which the German artist founded himself in 1954. Today, the recording is still widely regarded as one of the most masterful presentations of the piece. Bach’s only complete Latin Mass, Mass in B minor was composed in the final years of his life.
Launched in 2023, The Original Source series specifically focuses on revamping lodestar recordings from the 1970s with new and improved sound quality. These limited-edition LPs are printed on 180g vinyl and presented with original covers and lyrics, although they’re accompanied by additional photos and recreations of recording logs and tape boxes tied to the release. Other composer-conductor pairings already represented in the collection include Herbert von Karajan’s rendition of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, Claudio Abbado leading the London Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, and Karl Böhm’s take on Mozart’s Requiem.
