I savoured ‘Frohe Hirten’ as rarely before – the agile tenor Wolfram Lattke is so completely allied with his fluting partner that the shepherds almost take off in exultation. Bernarda Fink has her head buried in her copy but the Evangelist, Christoph Genz, sings without any music and tells the story without flinching. Ten years on, Richter is the ultimate purposeful and charismatic director with his seasoned Munich forces and stunning soloists: Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig and Fritz Wunderlich (who had given us a hint of his delectable Evangelist in Parts 1‑3 for August Langenbeck). Riccardo Chailly’s Bach from the Gewandhaus espouses the ‘Third Way’, as Chailly calls it, where romantic and ‘period’ style find a happy synergy. How best can the performer pace the narrative of the complete Oratorio in a story which lacks the urgency and action propelled by protagonists – the likes of Jesus, Peter, Pilate and the crowd in the Passions – while retaining the discrete contemplative world of each of the six ‘tableaux’ or cantatas? For the 3rd day of Christmas 58:24 4. The series features three renowned cantatas, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131, and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, followed by all six parts of Bach’s beloved Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248. The soprano Sibylla Rubens makes an operatic ‘scena’ out of the tempestuous recitative and fervent aria ‘Nur ein Wink’ in Part 6. As Harnoncourt represented the advent of historical Oratorio recordings in 1972, so he seeks a kind of epiphany in his large-scale, spacious and glamorous interpretation from the Musikverein at Christmas in 2006. Less atmospheric – but rather more recognisable in terms of increasing technical surety and the aesthetic of objectivity which flavoured ‘early music’ at the cusp of the 1980s – is Hanns-Martin Schneidt’s reading with the Regensburger Domspatzen (whose director for 30 years was Georg Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI’s brother), which espouses safety to such lengths as to render the whole a disappointingly dour essay. There are two major commercial accounts of the Oratorio with homegrown Stuttgart forces and two others from Poland and Hungary (which are not under consideration). Richter presents a corporate muscularity juxtaposed with solo vocal warmth, especially from the luminous Janowitz and Wunderlich. Bach - Christmas Oratorio Written in 1734, J. S. Bach's popular Christmas work is one of the choral masterpieces of the Baroque era - but the great composer took all of its tunes from other works. Like Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki approached the Oratorio within the gargantuan task of committing all the cantatas to disc. Harnoncourt’s considered identity with each ‘event’ in the narrative places the work outside anything remotely pragmatic or generic. If Fasolis temporarily held sway in my affections, Harnoncourt’s later version is my top choice: an account elevating these six great tableaux to a level where Bach, at his most mature and luminous, irresistibly conveys the wonders of Christmas. Date / Artists / Record company (review date), 1955 Stuttgart Rad SO / Langenbeck (pts 1-3 only) Profil PH08028, 1958 Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch / Thomas Berlin Classics 0021912BC (12/62R); 0300034BC, 1963 Pforzheim CO / Werner Erato 2564 61403-2 (1/05), 1965 Munich Bach Orch / K Richter Archiv 427 236-2AX3 (3/89); DG 463 701-2AB10, 1966 Stuttgart CO / Münchinger Decca 455 410-2DF2 (12/67R); Newton 8802001, 1972 Concentus Musicus Wien / Harnoncourt WCJ 2564 69854-0 (12/86R), 1973 Bavarian Rad SO / Jochum Philips 416 40-2PB3 (9/73R – nla), 1973 Collegium Aureum / Schmidt-Gaden DHM 88697 57577-2 (4/88R); 88697 58759-2, 1977 Collegium St Emmeram / Schneidt Archiv 477 6282AM3 (10/79R), 1981 Concentus Musicus Wien / Harnoncourt DG 073 4104GH, 1984 Lausanne CO / Corboz Apex 2564 68621-7 (12/84R), 1984 Bach Collegium Stuttgart / Rilling Hänssler Classic CD98 851/3 (2/95); CD98 976, 1987 English Baroque Sols / Gardiner Archiv 423 232-2AH2 (12/87); DG 469 769-2X9, 1987 Staatskapelle Dresden / Schreier Philips 475 9155POR3 (12/87R), 1989 Collegium Vocale, Ghent / Herreweghe Virgin Classics 759530-2 (12/89R), 1991 Conc Cologne / Otto Capriccio 60 025 (4/92), 1992 Failoni CO / Oberfrank Naxos 8 550428/30 (4/93), 1993 Sixteen / Christophers Coro COR16017 (12/93R); COR16072, 1993 Drottningholm Baroque Ens / Ericson Proprius PRCD2012/13, 1995 Virtuosi Saxoniae / Güttler Berlin Classics 0011352BC; 0184192BC, 1996 Amsterdam Baroque Orch / Koopman Erato 0630 14635-2 (3/97), 1997 KlangVerwaltung Orch / Guttenberg Farao B108015, 1997 Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / Jacobs Harmonia Mundi HMX290 1630/31 (12/97R), 1997 New London Consort / Pickett L’Oiseau-Lyre 458 838-2OH2 (5/00 – nla), 1998 Bach Fest Orch / Funfgeld Dorian DOR93183 (2/00), 1998 Bach Collegium Japan / Suzuki BIS BIS-CD941/2 (2/99), 1999 English Baroque Sols / Gardiner ArtHaus Musik 101 237, 1999 Bach Collegium Stuttgart / Rilling Hänssler Classic CD92 076 (1/01), 2002 Netherlands Bach Society / Veldhoven Channel Classics CCSSA20103 (1/04), 2002/03 Swiss Rad Orch / Fasolis Arts 47714-8, 2006/07 Concentus Musicus Wien / Harnoncourt DHM 88697 11225-2 (12/07), 2009 Kleine Konzert / Max CPO CPO777 459-2, 2010 Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch / Chailly Decca 478 2271DH2, 2010 Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / Dijkstra BR-Klassik 900502, This article originally appeared in the December 2012 issue of Gramophone. The deep red velour-covered box with gold lettering (front and back!) If the Mass in B minor is a compilation on the loftiest conceptual level – honed and crafted as the zenith of Bach’s creative life – then the Christmas Oratorio stands as a compilation of a quite different kind, a practical harvesting of six specific cantatas to be performed on the feast days of Christmas 1734 and the New Year. This interpretation sounds strangely more like a ‘period piece’ than several earlier versions. This 1963 performance is aesthetically more in the Lehmann than Richter mould with its vocal intimacy (especially from the tender Evangelist Helmut Krebs) and open-hearted obbligato playing allowing the more pastoral qualities of the score to blossom. Robert Tear is not the most idiomatic Bachian, and the addition of an over-characterising Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to an English mix of objectively crisp chamber playing sounds disorientating in this magnificent chapel. Bach: Christmas oratorio, Weihnachts-Oratorium, Oratorio de Nöel, Oratorio de Navidad. While only intermittently fulfilling, for many of the fixtures hard-wired into Rilling, this is still distinguished on many levels and never less than exciting. If you’re a pushover for elegant packaging, you might as well skip the review and just order this new Christmas Oratorio without delay. I. If the Mass in B minor is a compilation on the loftiest conceptual level – honed and crafted as the zenith of Bach’s creative life – then the Christmas Oratorio stands as a compilation of a quite different kind, a practical harvesting of six specific cantatas to be performed on the feast days of Christmas 1734 and the New Year. With John Eliot Gardiner’s uniquely open-shouldered and virtuoso Bach performances, the new ‘period’ generation was transformed in a trice from the mid-1980s. Despite a few glitches, each cantata represents a clarion of warmth, freedom and optimism, beckoning the listener to experience the work in a single breath. The Christmas Oratorio, written for the turn-of-year feast days in 1734/35, was composed during a period in which Bach produced comparatively few new works for his Leipzig churches. Mark Padmore has developed into an Evangelist of far greater range since 1993. Bach: Christmas Oratorio I - 1. The orchestral playing is supremely polished, assured and with pinpoint nuancing. Gramophone is part of This is the version for all-round delight and unexpected wonder. This Oster-Oratorium (Easter oratorio) was first performed on Easter Sunday in 1725. Two days earlier, the congregation in Leipzig had listened to the St John Passion, just as in 1724. There are three complete DVDs of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Werner was a quiet and unassuming poet of Bach and he is supported with almost peerless empathy by his long-term Evangelist, Helmut Krebs, and some radiant instrumental characterisation. The solo singing is seamlessly distinguished, from Anne Sofie von Otter’s bloom-filled and pliably decorated ‘Bereite dich’ to the recitative quartet at the end. Sinfonia 2 (11). The last recording by a pioneer of the Bach revival on record, newly remastered and issued internationally on CD for the first time. ‘Herr, dein Mitleid’, with Lynn Dawson and Klaus Mertens, is played out like a love duet and yet it fits a canvas of sprung vitality which, mostly, renders the rough edges undistracting. Discrete but deft organ continuo-playing and lovingly crafted chorales – such as ‘Wir singen’ between Parts 2 and 3 – contribute to Koopman’s intensely focused and atmospheric vision across the piece. Soon after Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe followed in 1989 with a more intimate and soft-edged reading. The proportion of Oratorio performances on period instruments rose significantly during the 1970s. Suzuki’s unwaveringly felicitous choices are noticeably evident as we approach the close of the cantata project, 15 years after this beautifully judged reading. Some may miss the cut and thrust of a Gardiner or the cultivated solo contributions in recordings by Corboz or Chailly but a meticulous attention to detail, superlative balance and speeds which allow the music to proceed with dignity in the gradual, contemplative unfolding of events are second nature to Suzuki. Welcome Letter Bach Interactions Cantatas Christmas Oratorio. If there is a drawback, it’s the shortage of captivating solo singing and absorbing characterisation. The essence of this pioneering reading is captured in the visceral, chamber-like instrumental playing of Concentus Musicus, a kind of Renaissance-style pageantry to the choruses, an intimate acoustic and the extraordinary veracity of Kurt Equiluz’s Evangelist. Falling somewhere between the ruminative landscape of Richter (at his best) and Rilling’s sleek, homogeneous ensemble, Schreier is generally more stylistically inquisitive than both and musically his reading is more eventful than all of Rilling’s. Welcome Letter Bach Interactions Cantatas Christmas Oratorio. Howard Crook is a cultivated Evangelist but neither he nor the excellent Michael Chance and Peter Kooij can find that incremental sense of jubilation which the finest readings offer; the recording also lacks the precision of the finest choirs. Somewhere between the theological concentration of Richter and the generous, unaffected Werner comes the 1966 Decca account from Karl Münchinger and his Stuttgarters. Johann Sebastian Bach Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage, BWV 248/I Other readings which miss the top table include a generically turned 1993 concert performance from Eric Ericson and his eponymous choir with a ropy Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, and a more recent reading from Hermann Max where over-accentuation and instrumental bulging expose the worst of ‘period’ ticks alongside some approximate intonation. One such example is the great cradle aria, ‘Schlafe, mein Liebster’, where composer and librettist (probably Bach’s prime collaborator, Picander) produce an affectionate and telling makeover sourced from an older secular cantata (BWV213) – the tempting wiles of the allegorical ‘Pleasure’ luring Hercules towards a rather different concept of sleep, here becoming a vision of haloed slumber fit for the kingly child. In the first, Harnoncourt directs his Concentus Musicus Wien in a highly staged, decidedly dated (1981) and surprisingly doctrinal reading from the Waldhausen Church. His ‘Ich will nur’ in Part 4 is exceptional. A year later Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, with the Tolzer Knabenchor and Collegium Aureum, embarked on a recording which, with significantly more wrinkles than Harnoncourt’s, bursts forth with spirited expectation as the Nativity is vigorously explored. In the second, Peter Dijkstra oversees an organised but jerkily propelled 2010 live performance with the Bavarian Radio Choir and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in the resonant Herkulessaal in Munich. Nikolaus Harnoncourt had quickly established his Bach credentials in the first volumes of the complete cantata series, co-directed with Gustav Leonhardt, and in 1972 recorded a performance which, in addition to his usual singers, employed a treble from the Vienna Boys’ Choir to sing all the soprano arias. Rilling increasingly took a pragmatic view towards traditional practice, paying only ‘lip service’ to period performance, which resulted in pangs of conscience with respect to tempi, ornament, balance and articulation. The first line sung in the opening chorus of Part 6 reminds us that the character of Christmas is far from that of a Hallmark greeting card. Bach: Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 / Part Two - For The Second Day Of Christmas - No. No such problems occur for Philip Pickett, who brings a warm and integrated palette to the pastoral chorus elements. The sensational trumpet-playing of Maurice André aside (the last chorus the finest on disc), Richter yields irregularly to the emotional possibilities. For many it will satisfy beyond measure. The 1984 reading coincided neatly with the conclusion of his complete cantata series. Here, Pickett seems less attracted to long-term rhetorical investment than capturing the essence of the moment – such as the solicitous arioso duet ‘Jesu, du mein liebstes Leben’: Catherine Bott and Michael George, beautifully accompanied, provide an unforgettable vignette. The Sinfonia to Part 2 is as touching an evocation of abiding shepherds as you’ll find. Bach - Christmas Oratorio. Despite Peter Kooij’s visceral recitatives and Yoshikazu Mera’s quixotic alto sound, this impressive reading is just too smooth and uneventful. There’s also ample evidence of why Barbara Schlick and Kurt Equiluz are among the most perceptive Bachians of their generation. If not always the most comforting reading, this is the performance which attempts most rivetingly to seek the essence of Bach’s musical imagery and meaning. This is indeed a highly accomplished and consistent reading, one where Bach’s sense of imagery is especially keenly developed. Elly Ameling and Helen Watts sing with uniform persuasiveness, though Peter Pears’s clear and urgently declaimed Evangelist is distinctive if tonally restricted. Thirty-plus years on and there’s a relaxed, almost southern-European feel alongside Harnoncourt’s recognition that with ‘powerful mental pictures’ (rather than intense action), the ‘galanterie’ of late Bach is especially fitting for the subject. This substantial festival work, like the Mass, draws liberally on pieces composed for previous occasions, Bach typically recycling old material with freshness and vibrancy to suit the new context. "Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen" Münchener Bach Chor and Orchestra. Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Jonathan Freeman-Attwood listens to 65 years’ worth of recordings. From the booklet of the Christmas Oratorio CD. Bach composed the six-part “Christmas Oratorio” (“Weihnachts Oratorium”) in 1734 for two Leipzig churches, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas, for which he served as music director. Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group J.S. Appreciating the Evangelist’s kaleidoscopic role allows Bach’s extraordinarily coherent treatment of chorus, recitative and aria, arioso and chorale to be further illuminated. René Jacobs’s idea of the work could not be more radically different: brazen, grand choruses, purposeful, operatic-style recitatives (with endlessly distracting strumming) and biting arias which, in their strutting gait, extrovert articulation and tonal opulence border on the vain – from Andreas Scholl’s busy ‘Bereite’ to a frenetic terzetto in Part 5. mezzo - Gerhild Romberger violin solo - Mariana Todorova OCRTVE - dir, Carlos Kalmar 2014 Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 8 p.m. on Facebook and YouTube Christmas Oratorio Part II. Ameling features in both Eugen Jochum’s and Philip Ledger’s recordings from the 1970s, the latter with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, uncomfortably sharp and forced. Before the singers get going, Bach seems to recall Jesus’s death with a melancholy Adagio in B minor for solo traverso and strings. He applies flair and elegance – leading from the front as Evangelist – but his soloists too often seem trapped in reconciling between old and new vocal styles. Christmas: Oratorio, Forerunners, Cantata 142, Rathey Book Review Following the early German baroque tradition of Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schütz, Bach’s predecessors as Cantor at the Thomas School and Church in Leipzig helped lay the groundwork for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, in its content and form. Seeking vocal homogeneity which infected the instrumental cadre down to mildly dabbed timpani, Herreweghe skips through with a decorous attention to detail though little rhetorical presence. One longs for something altogether less harnessed. James Taylor is a compelling Evangelist as advocate, commentator and, generally, all-embracing dramatis persona. The singing of Arleen Auger and Evangelist Peter Schreier is especially polished – as is the orchestra and chorus – yet the pre-ordained placement of each phrase makes for wearing listening. I initially missed this recording when it was released and what a loss it would have been: relish the concerted spiritedness from top to bottom. And then, on Sunday morning, the church resounded with the huge contrast of a Sinfonia with leading roles for three trumpets and timpani. The Netherlands Bach Society performs 'Kommt, eilet und laufet' for All of Bach. Recorded for the project All of Bach on May 23th 2017 at the Walloon Church, Amsterdam. From 1950 – the date of the first complete commercial recording – the release of Christmas Oratorios has been remarkably steady. The same cannot be said for the less technically impressive but profoundly affectionate account from Fritz Werner. Christmas Oratorio II 1 (10). Arias from J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, traditional carols, readings from sacred and secular texts Carolyn Sampson is irresistible throughout. The chorales are vintage Monteverdi Choir, though the choruses are not as embracing or electric as one feels they could have been. Articles: A Bottomless Bucket of Bach - Christmas Oratorio [D. Satz] | BWV 248/19 “Schlafe, mein Liebster” - A Background Study with Focus on the Colla Parte Flauto Traverso Part [T. Braatz] BWV 248/1 Text: German-1 | NBA J.S. Recit. New editorial notes by Bach specialist, Nicholas Anderson, giving context and authoritative detail on the Christmas Oratorio, the career of Fritz Lehmann and this recording project. Jauchzet, frohlocket - YouTube Harry Christophers and The Sixteen present a more conventional interpretative landscape. If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information. Sunday, December 22, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. Johann Sebastian Bach Weihnachts-Oratorium, BWV 248 The chorales squeeze the last pips and the adagissimo in the Part 2 Sinfonia says too much about the artist and not enough about Bach. About Mark Allen Group Other than Rilling, Michel Corboz is probably the next most prolific ‘recorder’ of Bach’s major choral works (there are four B minor Masses). The Dresden Kammerchor and vocal soloists fulfil Chailly’s ambition for unremitting leanness and breathtaking mobility, and yet my heart tends to sink under gymnastic survey and über-elegance. International licensing, If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to. Rilling’s later version from 1999 follows a similar template but the choruses crackle here with considerably more glee and variety, and each part infectiously follows the last with connective logic (the wise men’s arrival from the East is handled with seasoned timing). No such stylistic scruples seem to affect Schreier’s first trumpet, Ludwig Güttler, though his flamboyant tendencies dissolve under his own baton to such an extent that the routine prevails. Nothing could be further from the case in Ton Koopman’s performance, guided again by Prégardien but now as a far more compelling presence, and ignited by his exceptional Amsterdam colleagues and the especially evocative wind-playing (led by oboist Marcel Ponseele). That is just one means to seek original coloration in the score, fervently explored with exquisite, if not always flawless, instrumental mosaics and radiant singing. ‘Herr, dein Mitleid’, the duet for soprano and bass, is the pick of the set pieces. The most successful interpreters are those who identify how Bach links each cantata or ‘scene’ through the Evangelist’s quietly influential role: often he is quite directorial – exercising not merely reportage but guiding us personally through the events of Christ’s birth to the Epiphany. Only the women soloists fail consistently to reach the level, and the framing choruses of Parts 1 and 6 are technically uneven. (T) Evangelist And there were shepherds in that very region in the field nearby their sheepfolds, who kept their watch by night over their flocks. Bach Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 1.