Bach, J S: Cantata BWV20 'O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'

The fourth volume in “The Flagstad Recitals” comprises two LPs Kirsten Flagstad made with the London Philharmonic and Sir Adrian Boult in December 1956 (Bach and Handel: CD2) and April 1957 (Sacred Songs: CD1) at London’s Kingsway Hall. The Penguin Guide to bargain Compact Discs praised the ‘sacred pops’ CD for the ‘vivid projection’ of Flagstad’s voice and singled out the ‘great majesty and weight’ of her voice. As with the sacred songs, the Bach and Handel items have a devotional aura of their own and this anthology is also unique for the first stereo publication of Bach’s aria ‘Sheep may safely graze’ and the first-ever publication of ‘Art thou troubled’ from Handel’s Rodelinda.

Some of the songs featured on ‘Great Sacred Songs’ made their way onto a 45rpm EP which was entitled “Songs for Sunday” – from which derives the title of this compilation. Flagstad’s own religious beliefs remain unexpressed in The Flagstad Manuscript – there are no pronouncements about morality per se or about the immortality of the soul. How she lived her life speaks for itself, however, and so do the performances on this CD: songs not just for Sunday for but every day.

A series that goes from strength to strength. This huge project continues with La Petite Bande and Sigiswald Kuijken presenting the Cantatas for the Feat of the Visitation and the first and second Sundays after Trinity.

The first issue in the long-awaited series of live recordings, made on the artists’ Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000. The cantatas were performed on the feast days for which they were written and this series will be the first to reflect those couplings. The 2CD set is sumptuously packaged in a beautiful case-bound book, with stunning cover photos by Steve McCurry, detailed programme notes adapted from John Eliot Gardiner’s Pilgrimage Journal, and full sung texts and translations.

3-CD-Books with full texts, pictures & translations.

2010 marks the fortieth anniversary of Collegium Vocale: founded by Philippe Herreweghe at a time when the Baroque revival was still an affair for specialists, the Belgian choir has been at the very heart of the rediscovery of Bach’s sacred music. Abundantly illustrated and elegantly presented, these nine CD-books will offer the entire benchmark collection of Bach/Herreweghe recordings. The ideal Easter treat.

"no other group performing Bach can boast such a seductive elegance in its unforced balance, textural control and sophisticated turn of phrase.” Gramophone, September 2003

10 CDs for the price of 3

BIS is delighted to present four specially priced boxed sets featuring volumes 1-40 of the acclaimed Bach Cantatas series with the Bach Collegium Japan and their director Masaaki Suzuki.

The boxes are released in time for the 20th anniversary of the Bach Collegium Japan in 2010 - 140 cantatas spread over 40 discs

The series has been universally praised for its ‘clarity, long-breathed phrasing, tonal beauty and fine, idiomatic solo singing’, International Record Review, and ‘sheer polish and technical accomplishment of the music-making’. Classic FM Magazine