Bach Cantatas Volume 22: Easter cantatas

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

John Eliot Gardiner's strongest qualities are evident in these performances of six Easter cantatas made in his on-going Bach Cantata Pilgrimage series. I particularly admire the fervour with... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2007, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 26th Feb 2007
Catalogue No: SDG128
Label: SDG
Series: Gardiner Bach Cantatas
Length: 2 hours 0 minutes

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

Early Music - up to 35% off selected titles

Special offer ends: 04/06/2024

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV4 'Christ lag in Todesbanden' (Easter Cantata)

Work length21:43

$8.00

$10.40

Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Sinfonia

Track length1:24

$1.00

$1.30

Versus I: Christ lag in Todesbanden (Chorus)

Track length3:58

$1.00

$1.30

Versus II: Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt (Soprano Chorus, Alto Chorus)

Track length5:33

$1.00

$1.30

Versus III: Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn (Tenor Chorus)

Track length1:44

$1.00

$1.30

Versus IV: Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg (Chorus)

Track length1:47

$1.00

$1.30

Versus V: Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm (Bass Chorus)

Track length4:22

$1.00

$1.30

Versus VI: So feiern wir das hohe Fest (Soprano Chorus, Tenor Chorus)

Track length1:38

$1.00

$1.30

Versus VII: Chorale - Wir essen und leben wohl

Track length1:17

$1.00

$1.30

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV31 'Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret'

Work length18:27

$9.00

$11.70

James Gilchrist (tenor), Gillian Keith (soprano), Stephen Varcoe (bass)
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Sonata

Track length2:22

$1.00

$1.30

Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret (Chorus)

Track length3:23

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: Erwunschter Tag! Sei, Seele, wieder froh! (Bass)

Track length1:51

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Furst des Lebens, starker Streiter (Bass)

Track length2:19

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: So stehe dann, du gottergebne Seele (Tenor)

Track length1:09

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Adam muss in uns verwesen (Tenor)

Track length1:45

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: Weil dann das Haupt sein Glied (Soprano)

Track length0:44

$1.00

$1.30

Aria and Chorale: Letzte Stunde, brich herein (Soprano, Chorus)

Track length3:51

$1.00

$1.30

Chorale: So fahr ich hin zu Jesu Christ (Chorus)

Track length1:03

$1.00

$1.30

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV66 'Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen'

Work length28:01

$8.00

$10.40

James Gilchrist (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (bass), Daniel Taylor (countertenor)
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen (Chorus)

Track length8:54

$2.00

$2.60

Recitative: Es bricht das Grab und damit unsre Not (Bass)

Track length0:30

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Lasset dem Hochsten ein Danklied erschallen (Bass)

Track length6:02

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative and Aria: Bei Jesu Leben freudig sein (Tenor, Alto)

Track length4:05

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Ich furchte zwar des Grabes Finsternissen (Alto, Tenor)

Track length7:46

$2.00

$2.60

Chorale: Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja! (Chorus)

Track length0:44

$1.00

$1.30

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV6 'Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden'

Work length19:19

$6.00

$7.80

James Gilchrist (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (bass), Daniel Taylor (countertenor)
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden (Chorus)

Track length5:54

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Hochgelobter Gottessohn (Alto)

Track length3:44

$1.00

$1.30

Chorale: Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ (Chorus)

Track length3:55

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: Es hat die Dunkelheit (Bass)

Track length0:43

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Jesu, lass uns auf dich sehen (Tenor)

Track length4:20

$1.00

$1.30

Chorale: Beweis dein Macht, Herr Jesu Christ (Chorus)

Track length0:43

$1.00

$1.30

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV134 'Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss'

Work length23:56

$7.00

$9.10

James Gilchrist (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (bass), Daniel Taylor (countertenor)
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Recitative: Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss (Tenor, Alto)

Track length0:34

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Auf, glaubige, singet die lieblich Lieder (Tenor)

Track length5:25

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: Wohl dir, Gott hat an dich gedacht (Tenor, Alto)

Track length2:19

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Wir danken und preisen dein brunstiges Lieben (Alto, Tenor)

Track length7:06

$2.00

$2.60

Recitative: Doch wurke selbst den Dank in unserm Munde (Tenor, Alto)

Track length1:47

$1.00

$1.30

Erschallet, ihr Himmel, erfreue dich, Erch (Chorus)

Track length6:45

$1.00

$1.30

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV145 'Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen'

Work length8:56

$5.00

$6.50

James Gilchrist (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (bass), Angharad Gruffydd Jones (soprano)
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Aria: Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergotzen (Tenor, Soprano)

Track length3:31

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: Nun fordre, Moses, wie du willt (Tenor)

Track length0:59

$1.00

$1.30

Aria: Merke, mein Herze, bestandig nur dies (Bass)

Track length3:05

$1.00

$1.30

Recitative: Mein Jesu lebt (Soprano)

Track length0:43

$1.00

$1.30

ChoraleL Drum wir auch billig frohlich sein (Chorus)

Track length0:38

$1.00

$1.30

Reviews
Explore

Reviews

May 2007

John Eliot Gardiner's strongest qualities are evident in these performances of six Easter cantatas made in his on-going Bach Cantata Pilgrimage series. I particularly admire the fervour with which Gardiner imbues the music, his lively responses to the many instances of word-painting and his intuitive feeling for dance rhythms.

5th April 2007

across the performances as a whole, alto Daniel Taylor and tenor James Gilchrist make outstanding contributions, especially Gilchrist in the Easter Tuesday Cantata Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss BWV134.

2010

Easter 2000 had strong historical resonances for Sir John Eliot Gardiner's cantata pilgrims, as these outstanding works were performed in St George's, Eisenach, where Bach was baptised, and only a stone's throw from Wartburg Castle where Luther completed his New Testament translations.
One can only guess what inspired an unusually visceral reading of Christ lag in Todesbanden (arguably Bach's first great creation), with a plethora of extremes from the Monteverdi Choir. One might quibble with moments where orchestral gestures are a little exaggerated but this is a performance where the sinuous lines and the momentum of liturgical ritual allow Luther's great hymn to take us tantalisingly to the brink of Christ's victory.
The Easter cantatas receive some ebullient readings. Erfreut euch boasts one of Bach's longest choral movements and the composer (and Gardiner) demands vigilance from his virtuoso ensemble, whose roulades of quicksilver scales shed all the fear of the preceding weeks. Despite a few uncertainties in the chromatic solos of the middle section, this is a powerful account whose spiritual core is found in the central recitativeduet between the allegorical characters Hope and Fear.
The presence of James Gilchrist in any Bach recording raises the stakes and his singing in the little-known pearl Ein Herz is an infectious display of the new believer's ecstatic joy, expressed disarmingly in his first aria and reinforced in the duet with alto 'Wir danken and preisen'.
This volume continues to present the riches of the Pilgrimage with admirable consistency; rough edges aside, there is a unique sense of exploration and devotion to the music which comes from the palpable adrenalin of live performance in an oeuvre which has, historically, been studio-bound. Bleib' bei uns, with its strong St John Passion undertones, is an embodiment of the best in the millennial journey and receives one of the most concentrated and telling performances on disc.

Once again, Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir is the jewel in the crown of each cantata performance. Add to that Gardiner’s dramatic, electric response to music he clearly loves and you have a set that rivals his Gramophone Record of the Year Award-winning disc that launched this amazing series.

Offer,Bach Cantatas Volume 22

2 CDs

Downloads

Contents

Download queue