My suggestion would be to go through the scores at CPDL and make a lot of cuts: — replace all the solos with Gregorian chants — replace portions of the choruses with Gregorian chants also — cut out repetitions in the choruses, whenever it won't wreck the music — speak (or chant) the whole Credo
For the love of all that is good, don't pair a spoken Credo with the B minor Mass.
This is the EF and some sort of sung Mass so a spoken Credo is not possible. I suspect that this will be sung on a day that the Credo is compulsory, but you could choose a day when the Credo is not said, to save time.
If time is a concern, why not do one of his Kyrie-Gloria settings, BWV 233-236, which run about 20 minutes? I think not only the individual movements, but the relation between them and the pacing and structure of the whole Mass, are masterful and brilliantly done, and I would be terrified to tamper with that.
The b minor may appear to us a harmonious and well-paced whole, despite its parody origins, but the Sanctus was performed in its first version in 1724, the 1733 presentation copy of Kyrie-Gloria would have fit into Leipzig's liturgy, and the rest is in handwriting dated to August 1748.
Of course. To me performing just the K/G, or S, or some other entire part is a rather different proposition, in line with Bach’s own practice. Cutting out portions of a movement and replacing them with chant, or otherwise rewriting and shortening his music, is what I can’t imagine.
To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.