Given the considerable number of recordings that have tried to place Renaissance compositions within the context for which they were written, it is odd that the same has so rarely been done for Bach. After all, most of Bach's output consists of Gebrauchsmusik , music written for daily use. This release by Scotland's historical-instrument Dunedin Consort and its leader John Butt shows the possibilities of this approach. Included is a possible reconstruction of the Christmas Day service at the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig ...
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Given the considerable number of recordings that have tried to place Renaissance compositions within the context for which they were written, it is odd that the same has so rarely been done for Bach. After all, most of Bach's output consists of Gebrauchsmusik , music written for daily use. This release by Scotland's historical-instrument Dunedin Consort and its leader John Butt shows the possibilities of this approach. Included is a possible reconstruction of the Christmas Day service at the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig in 1723, the first year Bach arrived in the city in whose employ he would spend the rest of his life. He deployed his Magnificat, composed six months earlier, and you hear what would have been heard in 1723, the rarely performed original version, in E flat major (murder on natural brasses), with four hymns inserted between the usual movements, a typical Leipzig practice at Christmas. These are in a mixture of German and Latin, and indeed the entire program provides insight into...
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