In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.
Thirty years on from their acclaimed recording for Erato, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir return to the Bach Motets in a new SDG recording, taken from a concert in London last year at the end of a tour which saw performances in Italy, France, The Netherlands and Germany.
The Motets can be seen as some of Bach’s most perfect and hypnotic compositions. Through their extraordinary complexity and density, they require exceptional virtuosity and sensitivity of all the performers.
Each of them is endlessly fascinating, and each inhabits its own sound world, Bach's masterful use of canon, fugue and counterpoint, the brilliant exploitation of double-choir sonorities are perfectly matched by the Monteverdi Choir's virtuosity.
The album is packaged in a hard back book similar to our other releases. It contains 44 pages booklet with original notes by John Eliot Gardiner and texts in German, English and French.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230
Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230
Johann Sebastian Bach: Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229
Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229
Johann Sebastian Bach: Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV 226
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV 226
Johann Sebastian Bach: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227
Jesu, meine Freude
Es ist nun nichts Verdammliches an denen
Unter deinen Schirmen
Denn das Gesetz des Geistes
Trotz dem alten Drachen
Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich
Weg mit allen Schatzen
So aber Christus in euch ist
Gute Nacht, o Wesen
So nun der Geist
Weicht, ihr Trauergeister
Johann Sebastian Bach: Furchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir, BWV 228
Furchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir, BWV 228
Johann Sebastian Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Wie sich ein Vater erbarmet - Gott, nimm dich ferner unser an
Lobet den Herrn in seinen Taten
Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV Anh. 159
Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV Anh. 159
6th May 2012
“performances of surpassing beauty and irresistible dancing energy.”
4th May 2012
“Utterly sublime.”
August 2012
*****
“the Monteverdi Choir can turn from Rottweiler into lamb in the blink of an eye...Some might fine Gardiner's approach theatrical; he could persuasively counter that the motets engage unflinchingly with matters of life and death...Gardiner trusts Bach's simplicity and inwardness as much as he relishes his complexity and drama.”
August 2012
“Delicacy and precision characterise the choral singing in every track. The balance between the voice groups allows every detail of the counterpoint to shine through...The singers give a real questing quality to all the counterpoint, as if they are exploring these intricate textures for the first time. Their approach to the homophonic textures is just as sophisticated.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.