There are no “roles” as we find in the Passions, no Evangelist-type recitatives, no chorales, and there’s no real dramatic story line. A brilliant pairing of Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Magnificat, directed by Paul McCreesh and the period experts of the Gabrieli Consort & Players. Gardiner bemoans its relative neglect among Bachs larger choral works. Thus, Gardiners sequence moves from death through hope to resurrection. Brandenburg Concertos, Karl Richter and the Munich Bach Orchestra. Music of the music of the Easter Oratorio originated in 1725 in Bach’s cantata Entflieht, Verschwindet, entweich ihr Sorgen, which was written for the birthday of Duke Christian of Saxe-Weissenfled. After recently discovering an acetate LP master in her archive, the pi... Continue Reading, Although Louis Vierne composed his six organ symphonies with the sound of the Romantic Cavaillé-Coll church organs and large cathedrals in mind, one can argue that smaller spaces better absorb the mu... Continue Reading. Showing 1 - 10 of 27 results Bach's St. John Passion is the earlier of the two Easter story settings of … BACH - Easter Oratorio BWV 249; Cantata BWV 66 "Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen", Carlton Classics’ CD reissue of Charles Rosen’s 1977 Beethoven Diabelli Variations lasted for ab... Continue Reading, The Bottom Line: This tribute to the intelligence, musicianship and questing spirit of Richard Bonyn... Continue Reading, Pianist Éric Heidsieck’s Erato and HMV recordings made little headway outside of his native Franc... Continue Reading, This is the CD I only could have dreamed about in the 1970s. Intended for the second day of Easter and also reworked from an original secular cantata, it most likely was performed as an Easter work the same year (1735) as the oratorio. Once in while a recording comes along in which the performers, producers, and recording team get everything right. The recording was made in the Saxon church of Brand-Erbisdorf, south of Freiberg, which is possessed of a superb baroque organ and a typical 18th century organ gallery in which all the musicians were placed, lending a great deal of authenticity to the recording. Want to know first what the latest reviews are that have been posted to ClassicsToday each week? The perfect gift for the classical music enthusiasts! This, the second release of the highly anticipated Retrospect Ensemble series, features the Easter Oratorio, one of Bach's best-known oratorios and a monumental work, as well as the Ascension Oratorio. The final version, heard on the present recording, dates from the mid-1740s. It’s performed here with uncommon crispness and a highly charged yet refined energy that drives the music forward with irresistible power. First issued in 1995, this production of Bach’s Easter “oratorium” easily can claim supremacy among several very good alternatives. Largely cobbled from an earlier secular cantata for a duke’s birthday, the music is some of Bach’s most poignant while being alternately festive and meditative. It’s worth owning the disc for the performance of this chorus alone. Sound Quality: 8. Bach wrote for a boys' choir accompanied by a comparatively small orchestra of Baroque instruments. In Bach’s church music, this Easter oratorio is an exceptional work in the sense that the recitatives and arias are sung by four biblical characters, almost like a … Bach composed it in Leipzig and first performed it on 1 April 1725. Gardiner bemoans its relative neglect among Bach’s larger choral works. The first three movements of the Easter Oratorio are all in triple time (unique in Bach’s oeuvre), laid out like a concerto of the period: a festive sinfonia scored for trumpets, drums, oboes, bassoon and strings, a superbly crafted adagio for oboe (or flute) and strings redolent of a Venetian slow movement, and then a lively da capo chorus. the second a New Testament message of hope. The opening chorus of the cantata BWV 66 is one of the legion of wonders among Bach’s choral movements. The paintings are by Klee, van Gogh, Chagall, Whistler, Jasper Johns, ... Continue Reading, Bach’s motets are difficult as the dickens but among the most beautiful, uplifting, and refined works of a composer’s output that is positively stacked with beautiful, uplifting, and refined works... Continue Reading, Stéphan Elmas (1862-1937) was, according the booklet notes accompanying this release, the first Armenian composer of note to write a piano concerto, and although the two works on this disc date from ... Continue Reading, Idil Biret first recorded Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit in 1965 for the Vega label, but she did not approve its issue at the time. The performances here are everything you could wish for, with sound that neither giveth nor taketh away, but rather just allows us to hear everything clearly and naturally. The Easter Oratorio, like many another Bach composition, underwent many metamorphoses. This had a short-lived life on CD as part of an 4-disk recording that included many great Bach cantatas by these forces (Nine Cantatas B00000I6N9 ) and an even shorter life on an individual CD with the cantata BWV 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ lay in … Retrospect Ensemble employs large-scale forces for this recording including four-part choir and orchestra (including timpani). Bach's Magnificat & Easter Oratorio from McCreesh, Part 2: Donald Satz wrote (April 6, 2001): Bach's Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, like the Easter Oratorio, began its life in another form. It prevails, with introspective diversions, to the end of the oratorio. Bach’s Easter Oratorio continues to suffer comparative neglect, which is puzzling when you consider that it contains a spectacular opening chorus and one or two of his very best arias. For the Easter Oratorio, that would be the 1951 recording made by Felix Prohaska, the Vienna Academy Choir and Chamber Orchestra for Vanguard. 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