Erlebach: Instrumental suite

The Bach Players centre this programme on the chaconne: you will hear how Henry Purcell and J.S. Bach join hands in this much-loved dance form of the 17th and 18th centuries. Of the few works of Philipp Heinrich Erlebach that survive, they perform a suite that concludes with a chaconne. The two Bach cantatas are contrasting: BWV150 is said to be Bach’s earliest surviving cantata, BWV78 was composed in Leipzig at the height of his career. There’s something about the openness of sound, the sheer quality of music-making and the sense of connection between performers and composers that makes this a very special recording. Its contents explore the world of the Baroque chaconne, a secular dance form that became a staple of music for the concert room and chapel. The challenge of creating a piece above a repeated bass line certainly appealed to Bach, Purcell and the little-known Erlebach, each on inspired, inventive form in the works offered here. The Bach Players, a London-based collective formed in 1996, reach the music’s emotional heart with tremendous conviction.

“If the idea of composing above a repeated bass line sounds like a recipe for boredom, cast your ears towards Bach’s cantata no.78, ‘Jesu, der du meine Seele’ and its delicious duet for soprano and alto, which is vivaciously performed on this recording by Rachel Elliott and Clare Wilkinson. Purcell’s endlessly inventive genius and technical mastery merge beautifully in his Chacony to create an intoxicating musical mix. The Bach Players catch the work’s elegiac grandeur, slowly developing its expressive intensity with each repetition of the English composer’s eight-bar bass.” Classic FM , January 2010 *****