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Product Description
Product Description
Thirty years on from their acclaimed recording for Erato, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir return to the Bach Motets in a new SDG recording, taken from a concert in London last year at the end of a tour which saw performances in Italy, France, The Netherlands and Germany. The Motets can be seen as some of Bach's most perfect and hypnotic compositions. Through their extraordinary complexity and density, they require exceptional virtuosity and sensitivity of all the performers. Each of them is endlessly fascinating, and each inhabits its own sound world, Bach's masterful use of canon, fugue and counterpoint, the brilliant exploitation of double-choir sonorities are perfectly matched by the Monteverdi Choir's virtuosity.
Review
''If all the world's depressed people had somehow been squeezed into St Johns to hear this concert, the pharmaceutical companies would be out of business. Who needs pills to lift the spirits when we have the six Bach motets, and John Eliot Gardiners Monteverdi Choir to sing them?'' --The Times *****
''Lightness of touch and consistent momentum the Monteverdi Choir was on supreme form.'' --The Guardian *****
''Six short works for double choir reveal joy in the praise of God and bare composer's gift for contrapuntal tapestry. **** --Financial Times, 05/05/12
''This is a very impressive new recording of the Brahms German Requiem. John Elliot Gardiner conducts with warmth and the textures of the work have a vibrancy and immediacy that is wholly to its advantage.'' --IRR, May'12
''Gardiner challenges orthodoxy in how these a cappella holy grails are fundamentally signposted with persuasive passion and zeal.'' GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH --Gramophone, Aug'12
''Fresh insights continually ambush the listener.'' Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE. --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Gardiner challenges orthodoxy in how these a cappella holy grails are fundamentally signposted with persuasive passion and zeal. GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH --Gramophone, Aug'12
Fresh insights continually ambush the listener. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Critics' Choice 2012 --Gramophone, Christmas'12
Fresh insights continually ambush the listener. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Gardiner's Monterverdi Choir...bring these motets fully to life with arresting clarity and vocal precision. Highly Recommended. --IRR, Dec'12
Fresh insights continually ambush the listener. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
''Lightness of touch and consistent momentum the Monteverdi Choir was on supreme form.'' --The Guardian *****
''Six short works for double choir reveal joy in the praise of God and bare composer's gift for contrapuntal tapestry. **** --Financial Times, 05/05/12
''This is a very impressive new recording of the Brahms German Requiem. John Elliot Gardiner conducts with warmth and the textures of the work have a vibrancy and immediacy that is wholly to its advantage.'' --IRR, May'12
''Gardiner challenges orthodoxy in how these a cappella holy grails are fundamentally signposted with persuasive passion and zeal.'' GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH --Gramophone, Aug'12
''Fresh insights continually ambush the listener.'' Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE. --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Gardiner challenges orthodoxy in how these a cappella holy grails are fundamentally signposted with persuasive passion and zeal. GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH --Gramophone, Aug'12
Fresh insights continually ambush the listener. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Critics' Choice 2012 --Gramophone, Christmas'12
Fresh insights continually ambush the listener. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Gardiner's Monterverdi Choir...bring these motets fully to life with arresting clarity and vocal precision. Highly Recommended. --IRR, Dec'12
Fresh insights continually ambush the listener. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL AND SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Aug'12
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Teemacs
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
There are many nice recordings of the Bach motets, and it would be a brave (wo)man who would say definitively that one or other was the best (where "best" generally means "I like this one better than those ones"). This is Gardiner's second time, I think (he did them years ago for Erato). As usual with Gardiner, these are captured in live performance (does he anaesthesise the audience?). They are very nice performances, the stars of the show being, as usual, the Monteverdis, who sing absolutely gorgeously. The solo parts are sung by members of the Monteverdi Choir, so they don't really stand out as stars with highlighting, but somehow this suits the character of the music - and this would have been the way that Bach himself would have performed them. And of course, it is Bach, with all the incredible genius of the man. The quality of the recording is excellent. Another winner for SDG.
By J. Ryding
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Superb recording - clear sound with excellent acoustics - a pleasure to listen too - fill a gap in my collection
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By P. O'Brien
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I impulse bought this cd and love it, it makes Bach sound mint fresh brand new, makes you feel as if your brain has been taken out, washed in clean cool water, and put back in again!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bach is the best
I love the way Gardiner understands Bach's spirituality.
The M Choir is always amazing. My heart opens when listening to Komm, Jesu, komm; the whole CD is just a must have for... Read more
The M Choir is always amazing. My heart opens when listening to Komm, Jesu, komm; the whole CD is just a must have for... Read more
Published 5 months ago by EP London
5.0 out of 5 stars
The gloriously austere world of JS Bach
I have loved Bach for years but did not know his motets until a rave review in 'Gramophone' directed me to this new recording. Bach's sound-world is not to everyone's taste. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ian Phillips
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime Motets
What can one say about this absolutely sublime CD?
It's a must for every collector of serious music.
Music - singers - production beyond words.
It's a must for every collector of serious music.
Music - singers - production beyond words.
Published 10 months ago by F. L. Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunningly beautiful
I bought this because of a newspaper review and I put it on this morning whilst doing revision for an Open University exam. It is simply beautiful! Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. Christopher Harris
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