JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

 

Cantatas Volume 22

 

Cantatas for Easter Sunday

Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4; Der Himmel lacht! die Erde jubliliert BWV 31

 

Cantatas for Easter Monday

Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen BWV 66; Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden BWV 6

 

Cantatas for Easter Tuesday

Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss BWV 134; Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen BWV 145

 

(recorded: Eisenach, Georgenkirche) soloists: Angharad Gruffydd Jones, Gillian Keith, Daniel Taylor, James Gilchrist, Stephen Varcoe

 

The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner

 

This series goes from strength to strength with the first release for 2007 - Easter Cantatas from Eisenach where Bach spent the first ten years of his life, recorded in the church of St George where he was baptised and had been a chorister.  Eisenach is where “Bach meets Luther”, with the latter also having sung here and having penned his German translations of the New Testament while confined in the Wartburg castle which overlooks the town.  The performances recorded formed part of a service where the sense of Easter as the pivotal feast of the Lutheran liturgical year was palpable.  Bach’s setting of Luther’s hymn Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4, is one of his earliest cantatas, a bold and innovative piece of musical drama with, at its heart, a battle between the forces of life and death from which the risen Christ emerges as victor.  In seven verses and drawing on medieval musical roots, Bach’s setting is evidence of his total identification with the spirit and letter of Luther’s fiery, dramatic hymn, and this comes across clearly in this moving performance.  Alongside BWV 6 & BWV 31, this magnificent set also includes BWV 66, a skilful adaptation of a lost birthday serenata for Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, the joyous BWV 134, composed for Easter Tuesday of 1724 and the exuberant BWV 145.

 

“Gardiner’s 2000 Bach Pilgrimage volumes are very addictive. No studio renderings can match them for immediacy, and their revelations are many. ...the general eloquence is overwhelming... You feel you were there, and it’s thrilling.” (The Times)

 

“Once again, Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir is the jewel in the crown of each cantata performance. Add to that Gardiner’s dramatic, electric response to music he clearly loves and you have a set that rivals his Gramophone Record of the Year Award-winning disc that launched this amazing series.” (Gramophone)

 

Monteverdi Productions 2cds SDG128