Bach, J S: Cantata BWV65 'Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen' - CD

6 Discs for 2

Just as much a part of Christmas as Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is a reworking of a collection of his secular festive cantatas to form a single larger work. It was first heard in Leipzig on Christmas Day 1734, and performed in six sections between Christmas Day and Epiphany 1735. Bach wrote similar oratorios for Easter and Ascension, and all re-use existing cantatas. For the oratorio versions however, it wasn’t just a case of cobbling the works together. Bach wrote much new music, especially the choruses, but the core of the work is taken from cantatas nos 213, 214 and 215.

Chorale preludes would have been a feature of any church service in Leipzig over the Christmas period, acting as interludes between the movements of the cantatas and oratorios. A selection of works for organ related to Christmas is included on the 10th CD of this Festive Bach box.

Recent recordings.

For lovers of Barock music - Bach in festive mood is particularly uplifting!

Upon popular demand available again: Bach’s complete Sacred Cantatas, newly compiled, on 50 CDs, an unbelievable bargain.

These recordings, produced for the Bach‐year 2000, feature a superb boys choir, the Holland Boys Choir, a tradition going back to the time of the composer. The Netherlands Bach Collegium consists of Dutch early music specialists playing period instruments. Conductor Pieter Jan Leusink puts his entire soul in these recordings of what one might call “the greatest and most humanly moving corpus of sacred music ever written”.

Reviewers around the world praised the set for its “characteristic performances, marked by a great sense of authencity, especially from the use of boy sopranos”. It sounds very much like it might have sounded in Bach’s time (Gramophone).

Written to exalt the glory of God and to facilitate Lutheran worship, Johann Sebastian Bach’s sacred cantatas stand among the highest achievements of Western musical art. This acclaimed recording sees the works performed in their entirety by a stellar line‐up of musicians that includes the renowned Holland Boys’ Choir and period instrument ensemble Netherlands Bach Collegium. The cantatas are directed by Pieter van Leusink, one of Holland’s leading Bach experts. From the plaintive opening of Weinen, Kleinen, Sorgen, Sagen (‘Weeping, lamenting, worrying, fearing’) BWV12 to the triumphant D major chorus in Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg BWV149, the works traverse a wide range of themes and moods, having been written for a variety of occasions throughout the liturgical year.

Between 1999 and 2006, the legendary baroque music specialist Ton Koopman brought together a stunning array of singers to record the complete cantatas of J S Bach alongside his own Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir. Released originally mostly in 3CD sets, this wonderful cycle is now being made available by Challenge Classics in its entirety. The 67 separate CDs have now been gathered together in a box with a booklet that includes a complete tracklisting and information about each recording.

Along the way these releases were acclaimed throughout the world, and received many major music prizes, including a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2006 for Volume 22 (CC72222). Featured soloists include most of the great modern day interpreters of the music of Bach’s time.

71CD + CDROM

Helmuth Rilling’s landmark edition of Bach’s Complete Works is now available as a new package with all the Cantatas together.

Contains a CD-Rom with all the liner notes included.