In this first cantata of the Christmas Oratorio – recorded here for All of Bach under direction of Shunske Sato – Bach attains a perfect balance between the jubilant celebration of the birth of Jesus and the serious, sad undertone that points to his fate on the cross. From the orchestral firework show of the opening chorus, via the sensual aria ‘Bereite dich Sion’, to the simple prayer of the final choral, surrounded by the royal sound of the timpani and trumpets.

For more information on BWV 248 and credits of this production go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-248-1/

For the documentary on Bach's Christmas Oratorio go to https://youtu.be/dFcr7jKZWYk

Recorded for the project All of Bach on January 3rd 2023 at Muziekcentrum voor de Omroep, Hilversum. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel https://bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating https://bit.ly/3J5uprM.

All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society, with the aim to perform and record all of Bach's works and share them online with the world for free. Visit our online treasury for more videos and background material on https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach. For concert dates and tickets go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/concerts.

Netherlands Bach Society
Shunske Sato, violin and direction
Viola Blache, soprano
Ulrike Malotta, alto
Daniel Johannsen, tenor
Matthias Helm, bass

0:00 Jauchzet, frohlocket (Chor)
7:38 Es begab sich aber zu der Zeit (Rezitativ)
8:58 Nun wird mein liebster Bräutigam (Rezitativ)
9:51 Bereite dich, Zion (Arie)
14:51 Wie soll ich dich empfangen (Choral)
16:00 Und sie gebar ihren ersten Sohn (Rezitativ)
16:23 Er ist auf Erden kommen arm (Rezitativ)
19:35 Großer Herr, o starker König (Arie)
24:20 Ach mein herzliebes Jesulein (Choral)