The Independent
Bach Cantatas Vol. 13 (30 Oct 2009)
Bach
Cantatas Volume 13
Soli Deo Gloria
The latest disc from John Eliot Gardiner’s millennium Bach Pilgrimage
finds the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists celebrating
Advent in Köln and Lüneburg. Two settings of Nun komm, der Heiden
Heiland (BWV 61 and 62), from Weimar in 1714 and Leipzig in 1724,
anticipate the arrival of Christ in music of avenging angels, all fire,
fury and dynamism, with stern bass lines. Prettiness comes later in the
church calendar, in Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (BWV 147) with its
cradle-rocking, Chorale-setting, “Jesus bleibet meine Freude”.
Anna Picard
))
