Bach, J S: Cantata BWV74 'Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten'

Born to sing J. S. Bach, Anne Sofie von Otter brings elegant style, richness of voice, and career-long commitment to Baroque music to this glorious recording of alto and soprano arias she herself selected. Featuring beloved staples like the moving “Erbarme Dich” from the St. Matthew Passion and the “Agnus Dei” from the B minor Mass, this follow-up to her successful release of Music for a While includes lesser-known repertoire to entice the most jaded lover of voice, Baroque or Bach. Lars Ulrik Mortensen leads Concerto Copenhagen, the acclaimed Scandinavian Baroque ensemble, in instrumentations of fascinating variety unusual in Bach solo vocal albums

The liturgical year with Johann Sebastian Bach: in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir Leipzig) Rondeau Production is publishing a ten-part CD series which presents a selection of cantatas for the liturgical year.

In Leipzig, music for the liturgical year has an especially well kept tradition: up to the present day the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir Leipzig) and the Gewandhausorchester (Gewandhaus Orchestra) join forces each week in the performance of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas at the church of St Thomas.

In time for the choir’s week of festivities, on 19 March 2012 Rondeau Production is publishing the CD with Pentecost cantatas. Three of Johann Sebastian Bach’s four cantatas for Whit Sunday, Erschallet, ihr Lieder BWV 172, Wer mich liebet der wird mein Wort halten BWV 74, and O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe BWV 34, are recorded on the most recent disc.

The current cantor at St Thomas, Georg Christoph Biller, is fortunate to have boys from the choir’s own ranks performing the soprano and alto solos. He sets the three cantatas into context with hymns from Erhard Bodenschatz’s Florilegium selectissimorum Hymnorum.

The acclaimed readings of the major Bach choral works - “Primary choices for these works” – The Penguin Guide - are among the greatest recordings of our time. Here they are joined by 12 CDs of equally distinguished recordings of Bach cantatas, from Gardiner’s famous “pilgrimage” in 2000, plus the Magnificat and Cantata no. 51 (originally recorded for the Philips label)

YOU GET: the classic recordings of the Christmas Oratorio, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion and the Mass in B minor; a wide selection of 37 cantatas, odes and motets covering the whole church year and other occasions, and including favourites such as Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Wachet auf, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, and Ich habe genug.

"Gardiner’s choice of soloists is unerring” (Penguin Guide): Vocal soloists include Nancy Argenta, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Michael Chance, Bernarda Fink, Magdalena Kožená Derek Lee Ragin, Sara Mingardo, Anne Sofie von Otter, Mark Padmore, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Andreas Schmidt and Stephen Varcoe.

Providing the essential backbone are The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists: “The musicianship of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists is always imposing”(Penguin Guide)

Sung texts and translations (German, English, French) are available through a weblink, details of which are found in the accompanying booklet.

PACKAGING: classic capbox, with strikingly modern cover and 32-page booklet including full tracklists

REMEMBER: This set is so attractively priced because it’s a LIMITED EDITION – a one-time pressing. There’s no second-time round … so don’t miss out!

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.