Bach's mighty oratorios in Holmens Kirke

Life must be understood backwards - but lived forwards With Søren Kierkegaard's words as a guiding thread, this concert moves backwards through the life and works of Jesus in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. We will probably never be able to understand the life of Jesus fully - not even backwards. But what we can perhaps approach more easily is the influence his life has had and still has: on those who lived alongside him, and on believers ever since, right up to today. We can read about it in many books - not least in the Bible. But to really sense it, to feel it, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the places we can turn. This concert takes place in Holmens Kirke, ahead of Concerto Copenhagen taking the programme to the prominent Festival Bach de Lausanne. The concert gathers some of the most magnificent and moving music Bach composed about the life and works of Jesus. In the Easter Oratorio we meet Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Peter and John on their way to the empty tomb. Here, with confusion, grief, hope, longing, faith and jubilation, they try to grasp what has happened. From here the road leads to the Ascension Oratorio, where Jesus leaves earthly life. The disciples are left behind with grief, wonder and praise, but also with longing and the faith that he will one day return. At the end we return to the beginning with Cantatas Nos. 5 and 6 from the Christmas Oratorio, rarely performed in Denmark. Here we follow the wise men on the journey towards Bethlehem and the revelation of Epiphany, where God shows himself to the world in the form of the child in the manger. Thus we are led backwards through the history of salvation - from resurrection to birth, from realisation to mystery, from the empty tomb to the star over Bethlehem. Concerto Copenhagen plays under the direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen with an international star line-up of vocal soloists in this Bach marathon concert, which literally contains an entire life.

• Joanne Lunn & Marlene Metzger – sopranAlex Potter & Benjamin Irvine-Capel – alt, Daniel Johannsen & Kristoffer Appel – tenor, Stephan MacLeod & Torsten Nielsen – bas

RECORDINGS OF THE WORKS

Johann Sebastian Bach: Juleoratoriet, BWV 248

The concert plays an excerpt of the work.

Open on YouTube (2013)All 4 parts on KulturbaseMore recordings on Kulturbase

Johann Sebastian Bach: Påskeoratoriet, BWV 249

Excerpt

Open on YouTube (2017)More recordings on Kulturbase

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