Album Notes

This programme is centred on the chaconne: you will hear how Henry Purcell and J.S.Bach join hands in this much-loved dance form of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Of the few works of Philipp Heinrich Erlebach that survive, The Bach Players perform a suite that concludes with a chaconne. The two Bach cantatas are contrasting: BWV 150 is said to be Bach's earliest surviving cantata, BWV 78 was composed in Leipzig at the height of his career.
The performers are: Rachel Elliott (soprano), Clare Wilkinson (alto), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Marion Moonen (flute), James Eastaway & Catherine Latham (oboe), Alastair Mitchell (bassoon), Nicolette Moonen, Rodolfo Richter & Anne Schumann (violin / viola), Rachel Stott (viola), Alison McGillivray (cello), Elizabeth Bradley (double bass), Silas Standage (organ / harpsichord).

'There’s something about the openness of sound, the sheer quality of music-making and the sense of connection between performers and composers that makes this a very special recording. Its contents explore the world of the Baroque chaconne, a secular dance form that became a staple of music for the concert room and chapel. The challenge of creating a piece above a repeated bass line certainly appealed to Bach, Purcell and the little-known Erlebach, each on inspired, inventive form in the works offered here. The Bach Players ... reach the music’s emotional heart with tremendous conviction.' (AS, Classic FM magazine, January 2010.)