Album Notes

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
(1685-1750)

CHRISTMAS ORATORIO/WEIHNACHTS-ORATORIUM BWV248
ORATORIUM TEMPORE NATIVITATUS CHRISTI
(LEIPZIG ANNO 1734)

JULIAN J.WACHNER, CONDUCTOR

PETER WATCHORN, ORGAN & ARTISTIC DIRECTION

ANNE HARLEY (SOPRANO) ELIZABETH ANKER (CONTRALTO)
ROBERT PITCHER (EVANGELIST)
THOMAS GREGG (TENOR) MAX VAN EGMOND (BASS)

THE BOSTON BACH ENSEMBLE


THE MARSH CHAPEL CHOIR

RECORDED: NOVEMBER 19 - 21, 1998, MARSH CHAPEL, BOSTON UNIVERSITY
ENGINEERS: JOEL GORDON, MATTHEW PACKWOOD
PRODUCTION: PETER WATCHORN, JULIAN WACHNER
EDITING: JOEL GORDON, MATTHEW PACKWOOD, PETER WATCHORN

The finest version yet recorded in the USA, using period instruments and featuring some of the leading vocal and instrumental specialists working today. Also the only recording to feature legendary Dutch bass, Max van Egmond, in a memorably great performance. Minimally edited from three concerts, it retains all the excitement of the genuine live experience.



Bach's Christmas Oratorio (Oratorium Temporem Nativitatus Christi), a cycle of cantatas unified by the Christmas story, and like the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, narrated by an Evangelist, was first performed over six days (the first three days of Christmas, New Year's Day, Sunday after New Year and the Feast of the Epiphany) in 1734/5. The performances were divided between Leipzig's two main churches for whose music Bach was responsible, St. Thomas's and St. Nicholas's. Due to the rotation of performances between the two churches, only St. Nicholas's actually heard the work in its entirety. The author of the text, though not positively identified, was in all likelihood Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700-64), a prominent official and man-of-letters in Leipzig, who adopted the nom-de-plume Picander. A well-known and widely published poet, Picander produced many of Bach's libretti during the Leipzig period, both sacred and secular, including those for the Peasant and Coffee cantatas (BWV 212 and 211) and the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244).

This recording was made in Marsh Chapel at Boston University over three days in November 1998, as part of a highly successful Bach Festival, involving concerts, lectures and symposia, which focused on many aspects Bach's church music. The climax of the festival was this sequence of performances of the Christmas Oratorio, which set a new standard for Bach performance in Boston, and which was expertly recorded by producer/engineer Joel Gordon, who took full advantage of the spacious ambience of the chapel, and managed to achieve an ideal combination of resonance and clarity. The performance by the Boston Bach Ensemble, which features a choir of twenty young voices and an orchestra made up of America's leading period instrument specialists, retains all the flavour of the live concerts from which it was taken, and is minimally edited. It was directed by long-time colleagues, Julian Wachner (conductor) and Peter Watchorn (organ/artistic advisor), who had already achieved fine standards in their many earlier collaborations. Among the fine cast of soloists are soprano Anne Harley, alto Elizabeth Anker and tenors Robert Pitcher (Evangelist) and Thomas Gregg (arias). Another factor that makes this recording so special is the presence of Max van Egmond, bass, whose performances of Bach's vocal music have set the standards in Europe since the mid 1960's, when he began his long collaboration with Gustav Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. This version with the BBE is Mr. van Egmond's only available recording of this work, and he is up to his usual high standard in this unforgettable and joyous performance. Also featured is bassoonist James O. Bolyard, whose recent untimely death robbed the Early Music world of one of its leading lights.


From the reviews:

"Hearing them ... felt a little like turning a corner and being nearly lifted off one's feet by a gust of clean, cool, mind-invigorating fresh air."

--The Boston Globe

An American masterpiece, October 15, 2000
Reviewer: Chris McArdle (Lincoln, NE USA)

Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote this of the 1998 performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio (which led to this, the first ever American recording of the work): "Throughout, Wachner led a lovingly detailed, completely unpedantic, historically informed performance, devoid of the early music ticks that can intrude." Select this 2-CD set and you too can experience the wonder and joy of Bach at Christmas time. The rich choral sound of the Boston Bach Ensemble is well supported by Boston University's Marsh Chapel Choir, and a period-instrument ensemble that will leave you breathless. Julian Wachner, orchestrator of this three-ring performance, skillfully blends the three ensembles together into a cohesive whole that sets a new standard for many years to come.

--Amazon.com