Bach Oratorio

The Christmas Oratorio (German: Weihnachts-Oratorium), BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a now lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander).

The ongoing cantata cycle of Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan was initiated in 1995. The series has now reached its 40th volume, in the meantime receiving an astonishing number of distinctions from magazines and critics all over the world. But parallell to their cantata cycle, Suzuki and his Collegium have also recorded Bach’s larger-scaled choral works; recordings which have caught the imagination and attention of audiences and critics alike.

Once in while a recording comes along in which the performers, producers, and recording team get everything right. This is one of them. First issued in 1995, this production of Bach's Easter "oratorium" easily can claim supremacy among several very good alternatives. Largely cobbled from an earlier secular cantata for a duke's birthday, the music is some of Bach's most poignant while being alternately festive and meditative. There are no "roles" as we find in the Passions, no Evangelist-type recitatives, no chorales, and there's no real dramatic story line. Instead, we visit a particular scene–Peter, John, and the two Marys discover the empty tomb and contemplate its meaning.

David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com