Für Mich Soll es Neurosen Regnen

In this premiere recording, René Jacobs leads a cast of outstanding singers and musicians in a grand production of Georg Philipp Telemann's 'Orpheus.' The manuscripts of this operatic drama were only recently rediscovered and because of some missing material, the version presented here cleverly interpolates other music by Telemann (and his contemporaries) to complete the story.

The recording of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, conducted by René Jacobs, was one of the discographic highlights of the year at its 1997 release. Critics around the world praised the "sophisticated interpretation", the "splendid cast", the "expressiveness of the evangelist" as well as the "compelling acting performance of the singers".

It was not always easy in the 18th century for a composer to remain true to himself on compositional, aesthetic and formal grounds, while at the same time fulfilling the requirements of his position as a princely court musician. This can be seen in this comment by Bach: ”Because I have had to compose most of my works for specific individuals and for the public, I have always been more restrained in them than in the few pieces that I have written merely for myself” (The Autobiography, written for the German translation of Charles Burney’s The Present State of Music in Germany … London, 1773—see: Carl Burney, Tagebuch seiner musikalischen Reisen Vol. 3, Hamburg, 1773).