Christmas Oratorio / Cantatas 1-5

On this CD:

1. Ach, daß die Hülfe aus Zion über Israel käme, cantata
Composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel
Performed by Klaus Mertens, Britta Schwarz

2. Ehre sie Gott in der Höhe, cantata
Composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel
Performed by Klaus Mertens, Britta Schwarz

3. Ich sehe den Himmel offen, cantata
Composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel
Performed by Klaus Mertens, Britta Schwarz

4. Ihr sollt nicht wähnen, cantata
Composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel
Performed by Klaus Mertens, Britta Schwarz

5. Kündlich groß ist das gottselige Geheimnis
Composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel
Performed by Klaus Mertens, Britta Schwarz

Tracks:

Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Tutti: Ach, Dass Die Hulfe Aus Zion Uber Israel Kame - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Aria: Seelenwollust, Freud Und Wonne - Britta Schwarz
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Recitativo, Accompagnato: O Wunder, Ach, Bedenkt Es Doch - Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Aria: Die Reichste Freud Und Grosste Beute - Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Recitativo, Accompagnato And Chorale: Bewegte... - Klaus Mertens/Jan Kobow/Henning Voss/Britta Schwarz
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Tutti: Ehre Sei Gott In Der Hohe - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Recitativo, Tutti And Chorale: Wir Horen Engel Singen - Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Britta Schwarz/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Aria: Unschatzbare Weihnachtsgaben - Henning Voss
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Recitativo: Gott Schenkt Sein Herz Der Erden - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Aria: Kommt Mit Nach Bethlehem Zum Stalle - Jan Kobow
Cantatas For The First Day Of Christmas: Chorale: Des Lasst Uns Alle Frohlich Sein - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Tutti: Ich Sehe Den Himmel Offen - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Recitativo: Getreuer Zeuge! Wie? - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Aria: So Bin Ich Froh Im Leiden - Henning Voss
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Recitativo, Accompagnato: Wird Stephanus Gleich Angeklagt - Henning Voss/Jan Kobow
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Aria: Schoner Himmel Offne Dich! - Jan Kobow
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Chorale: Herr Gott, Nun Schleuss Den Himmel Auf - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Solo, Accompagnato And Recitativo: Ihr Sollt Nicht Wahnen - Klaus Mertens/Jan Kobow/Henning Voss/Britta Schwarz
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Aria: Es Mag Von Aussen Donnern, Blitzen - Britta Schwarz
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Recitativo, Arioso: Mein Jesus Saget Zwar - Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Aria: Will Welt Und Satan Mich Bestreiten - Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Second Day Of Christmas: Chorale: Breit Aus Die Flugel Beide - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Third Day Of Christmas: Tutti: Kundlich Gross Ist Das Gottselige Geheimnis - Britta Schwarz/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens
Cantatas For The Third Day Of Christmas: Duet: Gott Im Fleisch Geoffenbaret - Henning Voss/Jan Kobow
Cantatas For The Third Day Of Christmas: Recitativo And Chorale: Den Wir Unendlich Nennen - Jan Kobow/Henning Voss/Jan Kobow/Britta Schwarz
Cantatas For The Third Day Of Christmas: Aria, Accompagnato And Chorale: Mein Auge Hebt Sich In... - Henning Voss/Britta Schwarz/Jan Kobow/Klaus Mertens

Bach 2000 Light (Without Sacred Cantatas)

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Bach 2000 Light (Without Sacred Cantatas)
Various Conductors , Various Performers , and Various Ensembles
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Minuets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Canons | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Fugues | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Inventions | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Toccatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Magnificats | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Psalms | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00001IV8C
Release Date: 1999-09-21

Amazon.com

The Bach renaissance--which began in earnest in the early 19th century thanks to the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn and others--inspired an endeavor of far-reaching significance. It led to the founding of the Bach Society in 1850, with the goal of gathering and publishing the composer's complete works, and thus set into motion one of the great projects of musical scholarship. That effort has continued and been refined throughout the 20th century, ultimately influencing not only our perception of how to perform early music but fundamental ideas of musical history, evolution, and reception as well.

Teldec's mammoth Bach 2000 box set represents a kind of culmination of that original attempt to come to terms with Johann Sebastian Bach's unparalleled legacy. This set brings together performances recorded over the last several decades--a small percentage of the recordings are previously unreleased--of all the extant works determined by modern scholarship to be authentic. There are also some pieces the authorship of which is still in question and a few now deemed "inauthentic" but familiarly associated with the composer. Bach was a prodigious reviser of his compositions, and alternate versions of a particular work have been included "where the changes seemed sufficiently important," such as the glorious Magnificat. No doubt manuscripts will continue to be unearthed here and there in various archives (Bach 2000 contains, for example, the "Neumeister chorales," which were rediscovered in 1984), but the set does not represent the many fragments of music that consist of just a few bars; however, there are some reconstructions of lost concertos (such as one for three violins reconstructed by Christopher Hogwood from an extant concerto for harpsichords).

Of course a truly comprehensive recorded edition of every note Bach wrote remains a utopian impossibility--about one-third of his cantatas, for example, have not survived. Even so, the dimensions of Bach 2000 are staggering. With its 12 boxes comprising 153 CDs, the set can be compressed into fewer boxes to save shelf space yet is still about ten times as long as the Ring cycle. (It should be noted that the packaging--using thin cardboard sleeves for the CDs--is distinctively unattractive.) That adds up to just under 160 hours of music--but a lifetime of discovery. Each box (grouped according to genre) contains a booklet with excellent notes on individual works and--for all the choral works--texts and translations. Tracking indexes are useful and thorough. Also included is a profusely illustrated hardbound volume of 24 Inventions, in which journalist Wolfgang Sandberger uses the composer's biography as a peg for some enigmatic and fascinating musings on the meaning of Bach today.

The presiding philosophy behind this project and its approach to musical interpretation can be largely ascribed to Nikolaus Harnoncourt, a true musical pioneer and galvanizing force of the "period performance" movement. Harnoncourt's epoch-making recordings of the sacred cantatas (using, for instance, boy sopranos and choristers according to the practice in Bach's time) with the Concentus musicus Wien and colleague Gustav Leonhardt comprise the first four volumes here (those who already own them can turn to the Bach 2000 Light edition, which contains everything sans the cantatas). These recordings--which were not remastered for this set--have long been controversial and are notably uneven, embracing some magnificent accounts as well as others that lack fire and seem clearly underrehearsed. But Harnoncourt is one of the most fascinating conductors of our era, and his interpretations amply bear out his assertion: "I have never felt that Bach worked in a routine manner, that he repeated himself in his works." Harnoncourt--who has articulated many of his ideas in his book The Musical Dialogue--displays his gifts as a cellist in a remarkably probing performance of the Cello Suites (originally recorded in 1965) and in his concertizing for a number of chamber works. For\ the St. Matthew Passion, you get Harnoncourt's groundbreaking earlier account from 1970, while his 1986 recording of the sublime B Minor Mass is also represented here (the St. John Passion included is Harnoncourt's 1995 acount).

Other artists included are colleague Gustav Leonhardt, whose thoughtful if occasionally dry harpsichord artistry is heard in the Goldberg Variations as well as in the concertos and chamber music. The harpsichord is in fact used throughout in preference to piano for the keyboard works. Ton Koopman (himself the conductor of an ongoing complete cantata series and of the Easter Oratorio included here) performs the organ works, including some newly recorded offerings, while Il Giardino Armonico's well-known high-energy account represents the Brandenburg Concertos. Violinist Thomas Zehetmair is exceptionally compelling in the unaccompanied sonatas and partitas, and the Concentus musicus Wien--again under Harnoncourt--perform a superb Musical Offering that richly repays frequent listening.

The result of Bach 2000 as a whole is an aptly encyclopedic grappling with the infinite legacy of this most compendious of composers, whose works are on one level a summation of all the styles available to him. Bach was once thought to represent a "terminal point" (to use Albert Schweitzer's famous formulation), the end of an era; today he is at least equally recognized as a fertile source of inspiration for composers since. To be sure, individual recordings of particular works will be found to be preferable, and it would be misguided to consider Bach 2000 any kind of "final" or "definitive" word. Instead, it's an indispensable starting point that represents a monumental achievement for our own contemporary understanding of Bach. --Thomas May --This text refers to the complete edition of this title

Album Description

Volume 1, 11 Discs
Secular Cantatas App. Sacred Cantatas; 11 CDs; Koopman, Harnoncourt, Koopman, Goebel and others

Volume 2, 14 Discs
The Sacred Vocal Works Masses,Magnificat, Passions, Oratorios; 14 CDs; Harnoncourt, Koopman, Corboz and others

Volume 3, 7 Discs
The Motets, Chorales & Songs Kirnberger Chorales,Schemelli Songs, Quodlibet

Volume 4, 16 Discs
The Organ Works; 16 CDs; Ton Koopman

Volume 5, 11 Discs
The Keyboard Works (I) The Well-Tempered Clavier, English & French Suites, Partitas etc; 11 CDs; Curtis, Ross, Wilson, Ruzickova

Volume 6, 11 Discs
The Keyboard Works (II) Goldberg Variations, Toccatas, Fugues, Italian Concerto, etc; 11 CDs; Staier, Barchi, Leonhardt, von Asperen, Baumont, and others

Volume 7, 13 Discs
The Chamber Music Violin Sonatas & Partitas, Flute Sonatas, Works for Lute, Art of Fugue, Musical Offering, etc; 13 CDs; Harnoncourt, Pianca, Tachezi, Brggen, Zehetmair, and others

Volume 8, 10 Discs
The Orchestral Works The Concertos & Orchestral Suite; 10 CDs; Il Giardino Armonico, Harnoncourt, Leonhardt

Music Track: