Choral nominations

H, JM, JC & JS Bach

Cantatas

Vox Luminis/lionel Meunier

Ricercar RIC 401 Reviewed September 2019 That JS Bach didn’t emerge from a vacuum is thrillingly clear from these vibrant performances of cantatas by the composer’s forebears Heinrich, Johann Michael and Johann Christoph. At the end of this compelling journey, JS’S early cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden shows his considerable debts to his talented family.

Handel

Brockes-passion

Watts, Hughes (sopranos), Lloyd (mezzo), Mead (countertenor), Murray, Bowen,

Spence (tenors), Quattlebaum, Pearse (bass-baritone); Choir and Orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music/richard Egarr Academy of Ancient Music AAM007

Reviewed Christmas 2019

There’s a shocking immediacy in a first hearing of Handel’s Brockes-passion. The potent, often brutal, imagery and dramatic tension requires a meeting of hearts and minds, and that’s exactly what AAM bring. Be prepared to be swept up in the raw emotion from start to finish.

Gabriel Jackson

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Tring (soprano), Cutting (tenor); Choir of Merton College, Oxford; Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia/benjamin Nicholas Delphian DCD34222 Reviewed June 2019 Jackson’s 2014 telling of the Passion story has the feel of an instant classic. Bright, imaginative instrumental colours are twinned with vivid word-setting, the texts either from the Gospels or by poets associated with the Oxford college. The result immediately engages the ear and lingers in the mind.