John Eliot Gardiner celebrates the Christmas period with works by two giants of European sacred music : Johann Sebastian Bach and Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Traditional French noëls – secular arias banned from sacred music by the Council of Trent – form the basis of the Midnight Mass that Charpentier composed around 1690. In the same vein, an irresistible rendition of laughter in music opens one of Bach’s most festive cantatas : Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, written for Christmas Day 1725 in Leipzig. Schwingt freudig euch empor, composed for the first Sunday of Advent in 1731, awaits the birth of Christ with dancing choruses and one of Bach’s most intimate and touching arias, Auch mit gedämpf ten, schwachen Stimmen. Drawing on his passion for both French music and the works of Bach, Gardiner paints a colourful Baroque portrait of the Nativity celebrations.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36

– Choir: « Schwingt freudig euch empor »

– Choral (soprano, alto): « Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland »

– Aria (ténor): « Die Liebe zieht mit sanften Schritten »

– Choral: « Zwingt die Saiten in Cythara »

– Aria (bass): « Willkommen, werter Schatz! »

– Choral (tenor): « Der du bist dem Vater gleich »

– Aria (soprano): « Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen »

– Choral: « Lob sei Gott dem Vater ton »

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)

Midnight mass for Christmas, H. 9

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