Product Description All the music on this new SACD from the Netherlands Bach Society is associated with the festival of Christmas. Bach wrote the cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens for morning service on Christmas Day 1725, and the first version of the Magnificat for Christmas Day 1723, seven months after the Leipzig town council appointed him cantor of the Thomaskirche. It would hardly be exaggerating to say that Bach thus presented his visiting card to his new employer. According to the Bach scholar Christoph Wolff, the work is his, first really large-scale and complex piece of church music. Christmas was not the only occasion to sing the Magnificat text, however, for it was also a standard part of the vespers liturgy. This may explain why Bach made a second version, heard here, some years later. For this recording, in keeping with the tradition of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Jos van Veldhoven has interspersed Bach s Magnificat with other Christmas-themed music from the period. Review Here is an artist whose musicality transcends technical difficulties and takes you straight to the heart of the music. --Enjoy the Music
K**N
Five Stars
All the Netherland Society recordings are fantastic - clear, exquisite music.
A**R
Three Bach wins in a row for the Netherlands Bach Society
We bought this in the same batch as the St. John and St. Matthew Passion SACDs, also from the Netherlands Bach Society. The first reviewer said the voices are "heavenly", and indeed they are. I wish Amazon would do a better job of supporting searches for SACD (and subsearches for DSD), but you can find the good stuff by going to [...] and from there clicking on the Amazon links. Enjoy!
F**.
Sheer perfection
The sound quality of this SACD is utterly pure and natural, and I suppose it has something to do with the Grimm Audio AD1 analog-DSD converter. The performances to my ears are heavenly.
J**M
Best ever recording of Bach Magnificat and Cantata to roam the face of the earth.
Up to this point in space and time, this SACD is THE MOST inspiring recording of Bach Magnificat and cantata 'Unser Mund sei voll Lachens'. Point out.The well trained Baroque-style group singing of these masterpieces is truly astonishing; the clarity and harmonics they produce, the amalgamation of the various singers in the group and the soloists, so successfully captured here on this recording is miraculous, as well as the instrumental accompaniment - the woodwinds specially, the solo trumpet and the strings are as live (read that as "distortion-free", if you will); they are akin to, and has the likeness of, hearing them in a (small) concert-hall.The five soloists has very tunes voices - all responding well to the part they sing and though at times one would assume that 'world-stars' of the Bach-Mozart repertoire might shine brighter here, this would be only a passing thought while hearing these fresh nimble voices - well anchored in their part.The presentation of these works gets here on this Channel-Classics SACD recording a breath of fresh air and life blown into them.No need here to consider some of the Decca-group recordings of the Magnificat as they all pale in relation to this one, and no need to go back in time and search for the "Thomannerchoir" that recorded this work for Electrola German EMI at the dawn of the Stereo era.The hall chosen for the 2009 recording session, the Concert-Hall, Tilburg, The Netherlands, is just fine with the clear acoustic it offers.No doubt at all that Channel-classic label has come forward as one of the most desired SACD recording sources - and certainly it is because of the well judged "Golden-Ears" culture there at Channel-Classics, the meticulous selection of microphones, cables, small console, amplifiers and most importantly - yes, most importantly - the use of the relatively new and wonderful Digital Converter DSD Super Audio/GRIMM Audio.This Grimm-audio digital converter used by Channel-Classics has certainly solves the problem of a "digitized" haze and stridency that to a certain degree still comes creeping-in even with the best of the BIS SACDs, the best of the "Gold Musikproduktion Dabringhaus" - to mention but two of the most desired SACD labels...This Dutch Grimm-Audio converter has much to do with the wonderful natural sound audible on this Channel-Classics recording.Contrary to other recording companies that shunt away from disclosing the recording gear they use and when and where, Channel Classics plays it out in the open; their website and the Grimm Audio website, gives even more details about each and every recording they ever made...This gains them respect and appreciation.It looks like (err, SOUNDS-LIKE) we are at the dawn break of a new recordings era - leaving behind the troublesome limitation of the old digital CD sampling.This Channel-Classics SACD recording of Bach Magnificat is a most desired audio product, one with an enormous potential to compliment the ear.
J**M
Best ever recording of Bach Magnificat and Cantata to roam the face of the earth.
Up to this point in space and time, this SACD is THE MOST inspiring recording of Bach Magnificat and cantata 'Unser Mund sei voll Lachens'. Point out.The well trained Baroque-style group singing of these masterpieces is truly astonishing; the clarity and harmonics they produce, the amalgamation of the various singers in the group and the soloists, so successfully captured here on this recording is miraculous, as well as the instrumental accompaniment - the woodwinds specially, the solo trumpet and the strings are as live (read that as "distortion-free", if you will); they are akin to, and has the likeness of, hearing them in a (small) concert-hall.The five soloists has very tunes voices - all responding well to the part they sing and though at times one would assume that 'world-stars' of the Bach-Mozart repertoire might shine brighter here, this would be only a passing thought while hearing these fresh nimble voices - well anchored in their part.The presentation of these works gets here on this Channel-Classics SACD recording a breath of fresh air and life blown into them.No need here to consider some of the Decca-group recordings of the Magnificat as they all pale in relation to this one, and no need to go back in time and search for the "Thomannerchoir" that recorded this work for Electrola German EMI at the dawn of the Stereo era.The hall chosen for the 2009 recording session, the Concert-Hall, Tilburg, The Netherlands, is just fine with the clear acoustic it offers.No doubt at all that Channel-classic label has come forward as one of the most desired SACD recording sources - and certainly it is because of the well judged "Golden-Ears" culture there at Channel-Classics, the meticulous selection of microphones, cables, small console, amplifiers and most importantly - yes, most importantly - the use of the relatively new and wonderful Digital Converter DSD Super Audio/GRIMM Audio.This Grimm-audio digital converter used by Channel-Classics has certainly solves the problem of a "digitized" haze and stridency that to a certain degree still comes creeping-in even with the best of the BIS SACDs, the best of the "Gold Musikproduktion Dabringhaus" - to mention but two of the most desired SACD labels...This Dutch Grimm-Audio converter has much to do with the wonderful natural sound audible on this Channel-Classics recording.Contrary to other recording companies that shunt away from disclosing the recording gear they use and when and where, Channel Classics plays it out in the open; their website and the Grimm Audio website, gives even more details about each and every recording they ever made...This gains them respect and appreciation.It looks like (err, SOUNDS-LIKE) we are at the dawn break of a new recordings era - leaving behind the troublesome limitation of the old digital CD sampling.This Channel-Classics SACD recording of Bach Magnificat is a most desired audio product, one with an enormous potential to compliment the ear.
S**S
Repertoirewert
Ein Magnificat aufzunehmen, ist heute ziemlich überflüssig. Es gibt eine Fülle ausgezeichneter Aufnahmen, ob es nun Gardiner oder Haim oder Hengelbrock ist.Die Aufnahme dieses Werkes durch Veldhoven ist weder vom Interpretatorischen noch von den Sängern den genannten gegenüber herausragend.Warum also diese Aufnahme ?"Er fügt vier weihnachtliche Sätze eigener Wahl ein, die eine Brücke zwischen mitteldeutscher und niederländischer Musiktradition schlagen. Zu Gehör kommen 'Hoe schoon lichtet de morghen ster' von Dirck Janszoon Sweelinck (1591-1652), 'Currite, pastores' von Jan Baptist Verrijt (1600-1650), das atmosphärisch dichte 'O Jesulein, mein Jesulein' von Johann Herman Schein (1586-1630) und schließlich das doppelchörige 'Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe' von Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694). Das sind Stücke teils sehr eigenen Charakters," werden wir von Dr. Lange informiert.Die eingefügten Sätze sind sehr hörenswert. Die Duette, aber auch der Chorsatz, Friede auf Erden, sind eine Bereicherung.Dazu die wunderbare Kantate BWV 110."Vom großen bis zum konzentrierten Satz lässt Jos van Veldhoven den Beteiligten Raum zum feinen und besonnenen Ausmusizieren. Alles ist belebt, aber frei von nervösem Druck also insgesamt eine sehr runde, ausgeglichen niveauvolle Interpretation." meint der Rezensent Lange.Ich finde, ein sehr gelungener Beitrag, der trotz der Überfülle ausgezeichneter Aufnahmen Aufmerksamkeit verdient.
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