JOHANN CHRISTOPH BACH

“Welt, gute Nacht”

1 “Herr, wende dich und sei mir gnädig”, Dialogus

2 “Mit Weinen hebt sich’s an”, Aria

3 “Wie bist du den, o Gott”, Lamento

4 “Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt”, Motet

5 “Ach, dass ich Wassers g’nug hätte”, Lamento

6 Fürchte dich nicht”, Motet

7 “Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben”, Aria

8 “Meine Freundin, du bist schön”, Dialogus

The English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Julia Doyle

Katharine Fuge

Clare Wilkinson

Jeremy Budd

James Gilchrist

Nicholas Mulroy

Matthew Brook

Peter Harvey

This album was recorded live at Cadogan Hall in 2009. It features internationally acclaimed singers, including Matthew Brook, Peter Harvey and Katharine Fuge. It is packaged in a hard back book similar to our other releases. It contains a 48 pages booklet with original notes by Richard Campbell, and texts in German, English and French.

The live concert was billed “Six funerals and a wedding”: the pieces evoke the dark theme of grief, as was fashionable in 17th century Lutheran Germany; though the last track “Meine Freundin” is a lighter amorous dialogue The music on this album is in turn dark, poignant, humane and witty It features choral music (motets) as well as solo arias and laments, and two dialogues Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) - not to be confused with Johann Christian Bach, was Johann Sebastian Bach’s older cousin. A respected composer in his lifetime, he greatly influenced JS Bach’s music making.

“JC Bach’s brand of sober pietism really draws you in. The uncompromising honesty of the word setting, and its dense, dark fabric of gambas, cellos and basses, creeps into the nerves system in a rather delicious way.” The Times

“Such is the individuality – even quirkiness – of his settings, with their expressive melody, distinctive harmony and often strikingly interventionist obbligato violin parts, that they absorb rather than repel.” The Guardian

“A rewarding exploration of the little known music of Johann Christoph Bach” The Sunday Telegraph

Soli Deo Gloria SDG715