| Review by JJ July 1, 2008 (4 of 4 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
The program on this Super Audio CD, grouping six Motets, is exemplary. The delicacy of the performance consorts with a purity of singing that is surprisingly vibrant, offering an image of Jean-Sebastian Bach completely devoted to his art, and a composer at the apogee of the vocal genre, which to him was both a spiritual refuge and a melting pot of inventiveness. The German Motets, as they are called nowadays, are “Sing a new song to Yahvé” BWV 225, “Spirit, come to the rescue of our weakness” BWV 226, “Jesus, my joy” BWV 227, “Fear nothing, I am near you” BWV 228, “Come, Jesus, Come” BWV 229, “Laud Yahvé, all people” BWV 230. A group of works that the Nederlands Kamerkoor conductor Peter Dijkstra apprehends so well in saying, “I consider Bach’s Motets vocal music. That is why I have chosen that only the basse continue be heard along side the vocal group. The vocal lines thus stand out better and the harmonic foundation is quite present. I have tried, by a vocal approach to this music, to give it a certain human, emotional fullness.” And the gamble pays off! In a most enthusiastic interpretation, Peter Kijkstra and the Dutch ensemble offer us here an unforgettable moment of grace.
Jean-Jacques Millo
Translation Lawrence Schulman
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