This CD is intelligently
planned to include music that Bach directed
during the liturgical celebrations of
Christmas 1723, his first to Leipzig.
The interesting and
useful liner-note informs us that the
cantata BWV 63 was heard at the early
morning service, starting at 7.00 a.m.
in the church of St. Nicholas and was
then repeated that afternoon at Vespers
in St. Thomas’s church. Actually, Bach’s
Christmas Day schedule may have been
still more daunting. The leading Bach
scholar, Christoph Woolf, suggests that
the cantata was first heard, along with
the Sanctus, at 7.00 a.m. Mass - though
he says this service was held in St.
Thomas’s, with Vespers taking place
at St, Nicholas’s. But Woolf also indicates
yet another performance of the cantata
was given in between these two, at a
9.00 a.m. service at the University
Church of St. Paul. Since Vespers didn’t
begin until 1.30 p.m. there can’t have
been a great deal of time for anything
other than liturgical celebrations of
Christmas Day in the Bach household!
The cantata was not
a new piece. It comes from Bach’s Weimar
period and was first heard there on
Christmas Day 1714. The Magnificat,
however, was brand new and therefore
it’s an extremely important work in
Bach’s oeuvre since it was by
far the most substantial choral piece,
both in terms of length and scoring,
that he’d written since arriving in
Leipzig in May 1723. It may, therefore,
be seen as something of a calling card
or a statement of intent
Christen, ätzet
diesen Tag (‘Christians, engrave
this day’) is a magnificent cantata,
with exuberantly celebratory outer movements,
fitting for a major feast day. It’s
richly scored and includes parts for
no less than four trumpets as well as
three oboes, a bassoon and the usual
strings. The Magnificat is laid out
even more luxuriantly, requiring three
trumpets, timpani, pairs of recorders
and oboes as well as strings and continuo.
The vocal forces are comparably extravagant.
Both major works require a chorus, which
divides into two soprano parts in the
Magnificat. In addition there is an
SATB solo quartet in the cantata while
the Magnificat calls not just for a
quartet but also for a second soprano
soloist.
Though this CD is accompanied,
as I’ve said, by a useful liner note,
in other respects the documentation
is seriously deficient. The vocal soloists
are listed but there is more than one
tenor soloist and we’re not told who
sings in which work. I believe it’s
Paul Agnew who sings in the Magnificat,
though I stand to be corrected. Similarly,
I’m unsure which of the sopranos is
involved in the cantata and if I’m wrong
in my guess that it’s Elizabeth Scholl
who sings in BWV 63 then my apologies
both to her and to Catherine Bott. Needless
to say, no texts or translations are
provided.
The other important
omission from the documentation is a
list of chorus members and orchestral
players. I always find this useful with
music of the pre-Classical period since
it’s helpful to have an idea of the
size of forces involved. I suspect,
for example, that Philip Pickett employs
only a very small band of string players.
This is most certainly authentic but
it may well account for the prominence
of the trumpets and timpani in relation
to the rest of the orchestra during
the movements in which they’re involved
in both major works. I’d also have liked
to know how many choral singers are
involved. Again I suspect the numbers
are quite small but they make a strong
showing. In particular I was pleased
to hear a positive and firm, but not
over-prominent bass line in the chorus,
something that was rather lacking in
a performance of Bach’s Christmas
Oratorio that I reviewed recently.
However, I must say that, while the
choir is very good the Monteverdi Choir
provides even more bite and brio in
their 1998 studio recording for DG Archiv.
In this present performance
the jubilant opening chorus comes across
with plenty of punch and joie de
vivre. The solo work that follows
is pretty good too. Christopher Robson’s
vocal timbre may not be to all tastes
but he invests his recitative with meaning
and later on he’s equal to the demands
of the florid writing in the duet for
the counter-tenor and tenor soloists,
as is his tenor colleague: Andrew King?
The other aria is also a duet, this
time for soprano and bass. Once again
the soloists combine effectively and
pleasingly. The cantata ends not with
a chorale but with another resplendent,
trumpet-led chorus. This cantata must
have been a splendid wake-up call to
the early morning Leipzig congregation
that Christmas morning and I enjoyed
the reading it receives here.
The Magnificat is heard
here in its original version in E flat
major. Subsequently Bach revised the
work, transposing it into D major, making
some changes to the orchestral scoring
and some more minor alterations to some
of the solo parts. The most significant
change that he made, however, was to
excise the four so-called Christmas
interpolations that he’d included in
the original version. These are short
vocal items, each a setting of a text
appropriate to the Christmas season.
This was an old Lutheran custom but,
as we read in the notes, the practice
was anachronistic by Bach’s time and
had been abolished in Leipzig in 1702.
One wonders why Bach reverted to tradition.
Perhaps he did so to emphasise to his
new congregation that he was respectful
of tradition? For myself, though it’s
interesting to hear these very short
numbers, I always find they interrupt
the text of the canticle in a distracting
way. Since the other changes as between
the D major and E flat major versions
are less noticeable the absence of the
interpolations is the main reason why
I prefer the D major revision.
However, it’s the original
version that we have here and very enjoyable
it is. The opening chorus is sprightly
and festive. Elizabeth Scholl gives
a confident and assured account of ‘Et
exultavit’ and Michael George, ever
reliable, is on equally good form for
his aria, ‘Quia fecit mihi magna.’ The
tenor aria ’Deposuit potentes’ is a
brute. The florid writing is demanding
and it’s hard to make real musical sense
of it. However, the soloist here, who
I take to be Paul Agnew, makes a fine
job of it, projecting strongly but without
ever sacrificing the lightness that’s
vital if this aria is to leap off the
page as it should. To my ears Christopher
Robson is somewhat suave in the delectable
‘Esurientes’. Some may feel his sophisticated
delivery is a little at odds with the
pastoral simplicity of Bach’s music,
epitomised by the use of delectable
recorders in the accompaniment. Overall
the soloists give much enjoyment.
The chorus work is
good too. Once again I find the Monteverdi
Choir just takes the palm in terms of
incisiveness and sheer vitality in their
1983 Philips recording. However, some
of John Eliot Gardiner’s speeds in that
performance are controversially fast;
Pickett offers a "safer" alternative.
Pickett’s singers punch out ‘Omnes generationes’
strongly but not over-emphatically and
the concluding ‘Gloria’ chorus is suitably
exciting. They also do their work in
three of the four interpolations well;
the fourth is a duet for soprano and
bass. The orchestral support is first
rate throughout.
I really haven’t mentioned
the conducting of Philip Pickett at
all. In one sense that’s a discourteous
omission. However, it’s also a compliment,
if a slightly backhanded one, for throughout
the whole disc his choice of tempi is
sane and stylish. He directs proceedings
with evident relish and enthusiasm for
the music. I found his accounts of these
works pretty convincing.
All in all this is
a most enjoyable disc and it’s an attractive
proposition at budget price, despite
the variable standard of the documentation.
The sound is good. The CD arrived too
late for review in time for Christmas.
However, I’m not sure that that matters
too much. This disc contains some marvellous
life-enhancing music and it can be enjoyed
at any time of the year, not just at
Christmas.
John Quinn
Catherine Bott (soprano I); Elizabeth Scholl (soprano
II); Christopher Robson (counter-tenor); Paul
Agnew and Andrew King (tenors); Michael George
(bass) 
