Search - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande :: C.P.E. Bach: Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu

Marvellous music; stirring performances

Gontroppo | Bathurst, NSW Australia | 11/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"C P E Bach's Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus sounds more like Haydn than his father's music. It is a wonderful, uplifting work which takes up where his father's Passions ended. The work includes recitatives, arias and choruses which tell the story of Christ's resurrection and the discovery of this by the women who came to the tomb, the two people walking on the road to Emmaus who are joined by Jesus and Thomas' discovery that Jesus is really risen from the dead.The choruses are all expressions of confidence in God's promises. One wonderful chorus is heard three times, each time with new words, but always beginning with the word Triumph.The work aroused the admiration of Haydn [who was clearly influenced by it in some of his oratorios], Mozart [who conducted a performance] and Beethoven.You may need to listen to this work a couple of times before the magic starts to work, but trust me: it will!"