J. S. BACH: CANTATAS Volume 18
CD1:
Cantatas for Christmas Day
BWV 63 - Christen, atzet diesen Tag
BWV 191 - Gloria in excelsis Deo
(recorded: Herderkirche, Weimar)
Soloists: Claron McFadden - Bernarda Fink - Christopher Genz - Dietrich Henschel
Cantatas for the Feast of Epiphany
BWV 65 - Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen
BWV 123 - Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen
(recorded: Nikolaikirche, Leipzig)
Soloists: Magdalena Kozena - Sally Bruce-Payne - James Gilchrist - Peter Harvey
CD2
Cantatas for the First Sunday after Epiphany
BWV 154 - Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren
BWV 124 - Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht
BWV 32 - Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen
(recorded: Hauptikirche St Jakobi, Hamburg)
Soloists: Claron McFadden - Michael Chance - James Gilchrist - Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir
The English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
SDG174 is the much awaited last volume of the Bach Cantatas Pilgrimage, one of the most talked about musical events of the last decade.
This is an anthology of the Christmas period, combining cantatas for Christmas Day and the Epiphany.
It features ten acclaimed soloists, including Magdalena Kozena, Bernarda Fink, Michael Chance, James Gilchrist and Christopher Genz.
The album opens with Christen, atzet diesen Tag (“Christians, engrave this Day”), which was performed on Christmas Day 1999 to launch the year-long pilgrimage. This is one of Bach’s best known cantatas. The accompagnato recit was sung by Bernarda Fink to great acclaim.
Gloria in Excelsis Deo, the song of the angels at the birth of baby Jesus, is best known as the Gloria in the B Minor Mass.
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen (“All they from Sheba shall come”) describes the procession of the three magi. Bach conveys the majesty of the scene by using high horns, and the recorders and oboes da caccia create an Eastern-like atmosphere.
The cantatas on this album display a great variety of dramatic expression. Both Mein Liebster Jesus ist verloren (“My dearest Jesus is lost”) and Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (“Beloved Jesus, my Desire”) tell the same story, but in a different style, expressing different emotions.
This album was recorded at Weimar’s Herderkirche, Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche and Hamburg’s Hauptikirche St Jakobi.
SDG174 is packaged with a separate index sheet of the Cantata series. ( SDG )
