Weihnachtsoratorium: Kantaten I-III by Bach, J. S., Aπό (2017/2017), αγωγός Stefan Gottfried, Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria

Could there be a more atmospheric concert with which to end Advent than a performance of the first three cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach? The great cantor of St. Thomas’s in Leipzig wrote his musical tale of the birth of Jesus, the proclamation of the angels and the adoration of the child by the shepherds for the 1735 festive season. In doing so he combined compelling choral works and hymns with arioso commentaries, concise recitatives and intimate arias. The spectrum of musical moods ranges from celebratory brilliance to pastoral idyll..