St Thomas's Boys Choir Leipzig: Cantatas for Christmas 2/10

The liturgical year with Johann Sebastian Bach: in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir Leipzig) Rondeau Production is publishing a ten-part CD series which presents a selection of cantatas for the liturgical year. In Leipzig, music for the liturgical year has an especially well kept tradition: up to the present day the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir Leipzig) and the Gewandhausorchester (Gewandhaus Orchestra) join forces each week in the performance of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas at the church of St Thomas.

The second disc within the comprehensive ten-part series features recordings of two Christmas cantatas, Unser Mund sei voll Lachens BWV 110 and Christen, ätzet diesen Tag BWV 63, as well as of a cantata for New Year’s Day, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 190, all three of which are performed by the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir Leipzig). For the soprano and alto parts, the current cantor at St Thomas, Georg Christoph Biller, has chosen exceptional soloists from the choir’s own ranks - a hallmark of this recording’s outstanding quality, and one that distinguishes it from other productions. Biller precedes each of the three cantatas with a hymn setting celebrating the birth of Christ. These four-voice compositions are from the Florilegium selectissimorum Hymnorum by Erhard Bodenschatz.

The following recordings are published as part of the ten-CD series (Order No.THO2012):
Cantatas for Advent BWV 36, 61, 62 (ROP4040)
Cantatas for Christmas BWV 63, 110, 190 (ROP4043)
Cantatas for Epiphany BWV 3, 65, 72 (ROP4038)
Cantatas for Passiontide BWV 22, 23, 182 (ROP4044)
Cantatas for Easter BWV 4, 31, 67 (ROP4045)
Cantatas for The Ascension BWV 37, 43, 128 (ROP4041)
Cantatas for Pentecost BWV 34, 74, 172 (ROP4026)
Cantatas for Trinity Sunday BWV 75, 194 (ROP4036)
Cantatas for Marian Feast BWV 1, 125, 147 (ROP4039)
Cantatas for Reformation/Michaelmas BWV 19, 50, 79, 80 (ROP4031)


10% discount on our recently completed CD-edition: pay only €143.55 (instead of €159.50) if you order the ten-disc edition ‘The Liturgical Year with Johann Sebastian Bach’ today – you save €15.95!

Thomaner Paul Bernewitz
Thomaner Friedrich Praetorius
Thomaner Stefan Kahle
Christoph Genz
Matthias Weichert
Gewandhausorchester
Thomanerchor Leipzig
Thomaskantor Georg Christoph Biller

 American Record Guide (20th November 2013, John W. Barker):

"...These releases [...] make a strong impression. Tempos and pacing are on the cautious side, but judicous and quite satisfying. The instrumental work is outstanding, and the adult male soloists are uniformly satisfiyng. In genreal, these are performances for people who can enjoy a special combination of "traditional" qualitites."