Dunedin Consort - J.S. Bach: Magnificat - The Herald Scotland
Great scholarship and tremendous musicality ensure the top spot here, as John Butt reconstructs Bach's seasonal offering within its original liturgical setting. This is how the work would have been presented in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig in 1723, with organ music, hymns and the Christmas Cantata 63. This Linn recording, made in Greyfriars Kirk, has so much atmosphere you'd swear you were sitting on the front pew.