National Orchestra of France - Choir of Radio France
In his oratorio, Bach tells us the story of Christmas, from the birth of Christ to the arrival of the Magi.
Founder of Collegium 1704, Václav Luks lets us hear here the first three of the cantatas that make up the Christmas Oratorio, which successively evoke the birth of Christ, the announcement to the shepherds and the adoration of the shepherds. Although the Christmas Oratorio was composed for Christmas 1734, when Bach was cantor of Leipzig, it is in fact made up of a series of six cantatas whose music, at the cost of changes in instrumentation and tonality, itself proceeds from previous works, each illustrating a particular moment in a narrative that goes from Christmas to Epiphany.