Search - Bach, Koopman, Netherlands Chamber Choir :: Motets

J.S BACH Motets BWV 225-230

Mr Bassil A MARDELLI | Riad El-SOLH , Beirut Lebanon | 04/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are over 1000 known compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.



In this recording six are offered and Ton Koopman did a good work on serious choir music in BWV 225, 227, 228, 226, 229 and 230 (per the sequence listed on this CD)



The six are authenticated funeral motets Bach wrote for St Thomas's Church, Leipzig between 1723-7.



I do not know why the seventh has not been offered.

Perhaps it is still in doubt as to the bona-fide of the author.



Jesu meine Freude (BWV 227) is the longest and most musically complicated in structure, yet it is the most popular of the six. Bach composed BWV 227 in Leipzig on July 18th 1723 for the funeral of Johanna Maria Käsin, the wife of that city's postmaster.



The 5th voice of the chorus is a second soprano part of harmonic notes, adding considerably to the tonal richness of the work as a whole.



The chorale melody on which it is based speaks of Jesus Christ freeing man from sin and death. The chorale implores the believers and extols the gifts of Jesus Christ as well as longing for His comforting spirit.



The motets are also abundant with pure contrasts between images of heaven and hell, good and evil.



Bach's brilliant setting of the words deepens these dramatic contrasts resulting in motets with an uncommonly wide serene humility.



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