Bach’s Weihnachtsoatorium is a cycle of six cantatas performed one six days (or, in one concert as here). This is a two disc plus on Bluray please from DG (the Bluray shows the concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, taken from December 13 and 15, 2022.
Controversy has marred Gardiner’s reputation since, but his grasp of Bach is, nevertheless, as impressive as ever. It would be wrong to shun the disc and miss our on Nick Pritchard’s Evangelist, or Hugh Cutting’s remarkable counter-tenor voice: try the latter’s fabulous “Bereite dich, Zion”. Cutting’s voice has body and yet can be miraculously light, especially with regards to onamentation:
The English Baroque Soloists is a crack group, from the difficult to balance oboe family.to the natural trumpets.
Good to se Dingle Yandell as bass soloist, firm yet agile in “Großer Herr”. His “Coat aria” Bohème stood out at the ENO production recently, which we covered (click for Classical Explorer review). And here’s the relevant Bach aria:
The first cantata announces the birth of the baby Jesus; the second is the annunciation to the shepherds. The music is gentle, initially, so when teh chorale comes in (translated as “Break forth/through, O lovely light of morn” – the slash is because one is the sublimes on the Bluray, the other in the booklet). Alison Ponsfod Hill is the superbly pure Angel. Rachel Beckett is the equally superb flute obbligato for “Frohe Hirten” (Joyful shepherds), with Jonathan Hanley (a name new to me) brilliantly agile as the tenor soloist:
But the highlight of this cantata is the remarkable performance of “Schlafe, mein Liebster” by Hugh Cutting:
The Monteverdi Choir is truly remarkable in this cantata (the demands of “Ehe ist Gott” are many, and the juxtapositions between choir and woodwind are superbly managed).
The brightness of the third cantata balances the of the first, and holds this gem, a duet for soprano and bass, “Herr, dein Mitleid,” Hilary Cronin and Yandell:
Anneke Scott, who played the horn solo in the Versailles B-Minor Mass with Gardner (review) is one of the horn players in the fourth cantata – Joseph Walters is the second. But most beautiful is the soprano’s “echo” aria , Hilary Cronin on top form:
Most impressive in the fifth cantata is the Trio:
Finally, the sixth cantata, the opening chorus a blaze of glory:
There is such beauty in No. 57 (the soprano aria, “Nur ein Wink”:
Having a chorale performed pianissimo and magically, adds to the depth of this final coantata: no mere “balancer” to the first cantata, this final panel reminds us of the eternal profundity of the Christmas story.
The set is available at Amazon here. iDagio here, Spotify below:
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.png?w=160&resize=160,160&ssl=1 "Letting in the Light: from Rameau's Pygmalion & Wagner's Parsifal to Christian Forshaw, Anna Semple and Schumann's Kerner Lieder at Temple Music")
