Bach, J S: Christmas Oratorio, BWV248: Sinfonia 'Hirtenmusik' (Shepherds' Music, Symphonie Pastorale)

The story of the birth of Jesus more than two thousand years ago has been the source of inspiration for countless poets and musicians, as well as practitioners of other forms of art. The infant, born of a virgin in a lowly cattle shed, because there was no room in the inn; the angel of the Lord appearing to shepherds in the field and bringing them tidings of great joy; three kings, led by a star, bearing their precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh: these are elements of the Gospel narrative which have rekindled the imagination of successive creative artists, providing a wealth of vocal and instrumental music with which to celebrate the festival of Christmas.

The music, which is sung and played today in Christian churches and in concert halls, spans several centuries and embraces many styles, ranging from elaborate works such as the Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio) by Johann Sebastian Bach and L’enfance du Christ (The Childhood of Christ) by Hector Berlioz to simple hymns and carols.

With their typical clean, vital, buoyant style, Neville Marriner and the Academy bring a liveliness and joy to this selection, which begins and ends with the sound of church bells, and interweaves favourite carols with Christmas classics by Bach and Berlioz.

Arthur Fiedler took great pride in bringing classical music to the world at large. While Leonard Bernstein was busy with his Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Fiedler and his Boston Pops Orchestra (most of the members drawn from the Boston Symphony) gave concerts of popular classics that became a fixture on America’s musical calendar. They made several recordings for Polydor / Deutsche Grammophon and the ever-popular Christmas disc is here reissued with built-in bonus tracks by Bach, Humperdinck and Tchaikovsky, in a sleigh ride, taking the listener from a delightful pot-pourri of carols (‘A Christmas Festival’) arranged by Leroy Anderson to Baroque hits in lush orchestrations to high-energy American Christmas songs – all arranged sumptuously for orchestra.

This disc includes transcriptions by W. Braunfels, C. Tausig, Vaughan Williams, I. Iljin, C. Lucas, S. W. Didenko, I. Philipp, A. Malheiro Prado, and A. Brieskier performed by German pianist Angelika Nebel and includes some premiere recordings.

Concerto Köln have hunted out the best seasonal pieces for a CD of Baroque repertoire from Corelli to Vivaldi and Bach. We can be confident that performances by this ensemble will always be fresh and new and that in their hands, standard repertoire is always worth rediscovering.

This is an enchanting programme of orchestral and choral music of the Christmas season with beautiful performances by the children of the Aurelius Sängerknaben Calw. It is a blend of familiar and less well-known repertoire including pieces by Rheinberger, Nicolai, Bach, Homilius and Humperdinck.

This seasonal CD features Christmas Motets and highlights from Christmas Cantatas by this famous and amazingly musical family. Included are excerpts from J S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and J C F Bach’s The Infancy of Jesus. Available at a special price.

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) was Professor of Composition at the Leipzig Conservatory and best-known as Germany’s foremost champion of the Kunstharmonium, ‘art harmonium’, which at that time was a full concert instrument and for which he made over 400 transcriptions.

He began his musical career as a boy chorister and organist who deserted the seminary where he was enrolled to become an oboist in a wind band. Later, rejected from active service because of his age, he served as a military musician (oboe) during WWI. But it was his organ music that made him internationally famous as a composer, particularly in the USA and UK,

although he was unusual in having no professional proficiency himself; a recital tour of the USA in 1932 was so disastrous that it might even have precipitated his death a year later.

His own organ music is frequently recorded and heard in recitals, but his many organ transcriptions are less familiar. After Wagner, Bach was the composer whose music Karg-Elert transcribed most often, carefully choosing the pieces best suited to the dynamic and colouristic possibilities of the late Romantic organ.

Includes the CD début of Stokowski’s only recording of the Second Orchestral Suite, which has been unavailable for the past half-century.