Feast of the Purifaction of Mary

Marking the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, John Eliot Gardiner's year-long Bach Pilgrimage continues with this program of cantatas for the Feast of the Purification of Mary. The music was written for performance on February 2 in the years 1724, 1725, and 1727, and the album preserves performances given on that same date in the year 2000 in Christchurch Priory, Dorset, England. The live sound has virtually no audience noise and is beautifully balanced, though a touch of harshness is present in the recording of countertenor Robin Tyson. The joy of God's new order in Christ is well expressed in Erfreute Zeit im neuen Bunde, a strong contrast to one of the most darkly beautiful of all Bach's sacred cantatas, Ich habe genug. Here the longing is for the death that will unite the singer with Christ, with bass Peter Harvey powerfully communicating all the required sorrow and passion. Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin combines choir with soloists, and intertwines joy, lament, and resignation in music performed with dignified grandeur. The disc ends with the only surviving movement of cantata BWV 200. --Gary S. Dalkin