The Leipzig Connection
There was nothing but instant communication between the performers and the audience Audience member
Excited, impressed, moved, touched, Music at its best Alan Gotto, instrument maker
Project overview
The first project of our Open Space residency at Aldeburgh Music was this spectacular and large-scale project: Easter music from Johann Sebastian Bach and his predecessor as Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Johann Kuhnau. Bach had a lot of respect for Kuhnau, and the programme is framed by a passiontide motet by Kuhnau and its alchemical reworking by the younger master. As in all our recent performances, the singers perform from memory.
Between these two works are two Easter cantatas from the beginning of Bach's career, and one from near the end of Kuhnau's. Christ lag in Todesbanden focuses obsessively on one chorale melody, turning it every which way and shedding light on it from a mind-boggling number of directions in a concentrated crystal of a cantata. For Der Himmel lacht, Bach obviously had much more luxurious forces at hand, and here, rather than the four voices and strings, antiphonal choirs of brass, strings and voices echo each other with celestial hilarity. Though the cantata was originally written for Weimar, we are very much in the mould of Bach's later Leipzig cantatas here.
In the Bach pieces, the instrumentation is interesting, and ties in with the connection back to Kuhnau. In both cantatas there are two viola parts, and in Der Himmel lacht five voice parts, both of which features hark back to an 'older' scoring. Indeed, Kuhnau's rather bellicose Wenn ihr fröhlich seid, as well as employing both of these, has an extremely unusual four trumpet parts. Here, the victory of Christ over death is completely very vividly to a military triumph, with the appropriate pomp.
Project repertoire & personnel
Johann Kuhnau Tristis est anima mea
Johann Sebastian Bach Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4. Cantata for Easter Day (probably 1708).
Kuhnau Wenn ihr fröhlich seid an euren Festen. Cantata for Easter Monday 1716.
Bach Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret BWV 31. Cantata for Easter Day 1715.
Bach Der Gerechte kommt um (arrangement of Tristis est anima mea)
4 sopranos ~ 2 altos ~ 2 tenors ~ 2 basses (all singers taking the solo parts as well as chorus, and singing from memory)
4 violins ~ 2 violas ~ 2 celli ~ violone ~ 3 oboes ~ bassoon ~ 4 trumpets ~ timpani ~ harpsichord/chamber organ (1 player)
Performance
April 2014: Orford Church, Orford, Suffolk, UK (Aldeburgh Music Easter Weekend)
Excited, impressed, moved, touched, Music at its best Alan Gotto, instrument maker
Project overview
The first project of our Open Space residency at Aldeburgh Music was this spectacular and large-scale project: Easter music from Johann Sebastian Bach and his predecessor as Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Johann Kuhnau. Bach had a lot of respect for Kuhnau, and the programme is framed by a passiontide motet by Kuhnau and its alchemical reworking by the younger master. As in all our recent performances, the singers perform from memory.
Between these two works are two Easter cantatas from the beginning of Bach's career, and one from near the end of Kuhnau's. Christ lag in Todesbanden focuses obsessively on one chorale melody, turning it every which way and shedding light on it from a mind-boggling number of directions in a concentrated crystal of a cantata. For Der Himmel lacht, Bach obviously had much more luxurious forces at hand, and here, rather than the four voices and strings, antiphonal choirs of brass, strings and voices echo each other with celestial hilarity. Though the cantata was originally written for Weimar, we are very much in the mould of Bach's later Leipzig cantatas here.
In the Bach pieces, the instrumentation is interesting, and ties in with the connection back to Kuhnau. In both cantatas there are two viola parts, and in Der Himmel lacht five voice parts, both of which features hark back to an 'older' scoring. Indeed, Kuhnau's rather bellicose Wenn ihr fröhlich seid, as well as employing both of these, has an extremely unusual four trumpet parts. Here, the victory of Christ over death is completely very vividly to a military triumph, with the appropriate pomp.
Project repertoire & personnel
Johann Kuhnau Tristis est anima mea
Johann Sebastian Bach Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4. Cantata for Easter Day (probably 1708).
Kuhnau Wenn ihr fröhlich seid an euren Festen. Cantata for Easter Monday 1716.
Bach Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret BWV 31. Cantata for Easter Day 1715.
Bach Der Gerechte kommt um (arrangement of Tristis est anima mea)
4 sopranos ~ 2 altos ~ 2 tenors ~ 2 basses (all singers taking the solo parts as well as chorus, and singing from memory)
4 violins ~ 2 violas ~ 2 celli ~ violone ~ 3 oboes ~ bassoon ~ 4 trumpets ~ timpani ~ harpsichord/chamber organ (1 player)
Performance
April 2014: Orford Church, Orford, Suffolk, UK (Aldeburgh Music Easter Weekend)
