JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

Motetten (BWV 225-230 & Anh. 159)

1-4 Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (BWV 225)
5-6 Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229)
7-9 Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226)
10-11 Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn (BWV Anh. 159)
12 Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir (BWV 228)
13-23 Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227)
24 Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (BWV 230)

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About this SACD

This coming together of two current dynamic musical forces in the Flemish Radio Choir and the Danish conductor Bo Holten in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach signals the latest development in Glossa’s association with the Brussels-based professional choral ensemble, which has already seen the artistry, versatility and flexibility of the 24 singers displayed in Zoltán Kodály’s Missa brevis and Sergei Rachmaninov’s Liturgyof St. John Chrysostom.

The greatness of Bach’s music – and here it is his motets – is mirrored by its approachability from a kaleidoscopic range of performance styles. The Flemish Radio Choir (FRC) has the intention, in this repertoire, of presenting an alternative to the authentic early performance style. In an interview within the CD booklet Bo Holten acknowledges his awareness and appreciation of the scholarly developments of recent decades concerning the singing of such music with one voice to a part whilst stressing his own artistic impulses as a choral director, and also as a composer himself.

This Bach recording represents the fruit of many months of preparation by Holten working with the FRC in rehearsal and in concert and it is no real coincidence that the Flemish Radio Choir has just announced the appointment of Bo Holten as its new Principal Conductor.

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