J. S. Bach - Christmas Oratorio 2 DVD 1999 Conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner / Includes two documentaries / Claron McFadden, Christoph Genz, Bernarda Fink / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists / EuroArts

UPC 0880242450982

REGION 0 NTSC DVD

MADE IN EU

AUDIO: Pcm Stereo 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1

SUBTITLES: English, German, French, Chinese, Korean

Total Runtime: 194 minutes (142 minutes - oratorio - 2 x 26 minutes Documentaries)

English Summary:

In the historic Weimar Herder Church Sir John Eliot Gardiner finds the perfect setting for his recording of the Bach Christmas Oratorio. Against the backdrop of the dramatic altar and Lucas Cranach paintings, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists perform Gardiner’s new interpretation of this classic piece. For the renowned conductor, this Weimar concert is a Special performance, marking the start of his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. With this new interpretation of the Christmas Oratorio, Gardiner shows himself once again to be an incontestable specialist of Bach’s music.

Featured artists:

 John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists in his reinterpretation of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, recorded in December 1999 at the Wiemar Herder Church. The performance features soprano Claron McFadden, alto Bernarda Fink, tenor Christoph Genz and bass Dietrich Henschel.

Extra Documentaries:

'J.S. Bach: Jauchzet, frohlocket! An Introduction to the Christmas Oratorio', 'Bach Revisited - J.E. Gardiner in Saxony and Thuringia'

Recorded at the Herderkirche, Weimar 23 & 27 December 1999

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

The Bach family already counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician in Eisenach. After being orphaned at age 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother Johann Christoph, after which he continued his musical formation in Lüneburg. From 1703 he was back in Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer stretches of time, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. From 1723 he was employed as Thomaskantor (cantor at St. Thomas) in Leipzig. He composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city, and for its university's student ensemble Collegium Musicum. From 1726 he published some of his keyboard and organ music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer, a situation that was little remedied when he was granted the title of court composer by his sovereign, Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in 1736. In the last decades of his life he reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died of complications after eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, CBE HonFBA (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and of other baroque music.