07:00
Sandy Burnett
Sandy Burnett plays a selection of Bach compositions including Prelude and fugue in G m and Cantata No 195: Dem Gerechten muss das Licht.
Prelude and fugue in G m, BWV 535
Hans Otto (organ)
Cantata No 50: Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft
Taverner Consort and Players
Andrew Parrott (director)
Sonata No 5 in Fm for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1018
Rachel Podger (violin)
Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord)
Four Duetti, BWV, 802, 803, 804, 805
Gillian Weir (organ)
Concerto in Dm, BWV 1054
Andrei Gavrilov (piano)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner (conductor)
Cantata No 130: Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir
Friederike Sailer (soprano)
Claudia Hellmann (alto)
Helmut Krebs (tenor)
Jakob Stämpfli (bass)
Heinrich Schütz of Heilbronn-Chorale
Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra
Fritz Werner (conductor)
English Suite No 2 in Am, BWV 807
Martha Argerich (piano)
Cantata No 195: Dem Gerechten muss das Licht
Jan Patrick O'Farrell (soprano)
René Jacobs (alto)
John Elwes (tenor)
Harry van der Kamp (bass)
Hannover Boys' Choir
Collegium Vocale Ghent
Leonhardt Consort
Gustav Leonhardt (director)
10:00
Jonathan Swain
Jonathan Swain presents Bach's Cantata No 64, Brandenburg Concerto No 1 in F, Cantata No 65, Fantasia in Am, Cantata No 38 and Suite No 1 in C.
Cantata No 64: Sehet, welch eine Liebe
Maria Friesenhausen (soprano)
Eva Bornemann (alto)
Hartmut Ochs (bass)
Westfälische Kantorei
Instrumental ensemble
Wilhelm Ehmann (conductor)
Brandenburg Concerto No 1 in F, BWV 1046
Emmanuel Hurwitz (violin)
Terence MacDonagh (oboe)
Douglas Moore, Ian Beers (horns)
London Baroque Ensemble
Karl Haas (conductor)
Cantata No 65: Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen
Ernst Haefliger (tenor)
Theo Adam (bass)
Munich Bach Choir & Orchestra
Karl Richter (conductor)
Fantasia in Am, BWV 922
Igor Kipnis (clavichord)
Cantata No 38, Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir
Arleen Augér (soprano)
Helen Watts (contralto)
Lutz-Michael Harder (tenor)
Philippe Huttenlocher (bass)
Gächinger Kantorei
Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Helmuth Rilling (conductor)
Suite No 1 in C, BWV 1066
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock (director/harpsichord)
12:00
Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner
Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner travel to St Thomas' Church in Leipzig to discover how Bach adapted his sacred cantatas to the geography of one of the key venues for which they were written. All four works today were composed for the pre-Easter feast of Quinquagesima.
Cantata No 23: Du Wahrer Gott und David's Sohn
Ursula Buckel (soprano)
Eva Bornemann (alto)
Johannes Hoefflin (tenor)
Jakob Stämpfli (bass)
Frankfurter Kantorei, German Bach Soloists
Kurt Thomas (director)
Cantata No 22: Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe
Claudia Schubert (alto)
James Oxley (tenor)
Peter Harvey (bass)
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner (director)
Cantata No 127: Herr Jesus Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott
Antonia Fahberg (soprano)
Peter Pears (tenor)
Keith Engen (bass)
Munich Bach Choir
Munich State Opera Orchestra
Karl Richter (conductor)
Cantata No 159: Sehet, wir gehn hinauf nach Jerusalem
Ruth Holton (soprano)
Claudia Schubert (alto)
James Oxley (tenor)
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner (director)
13:30
Catherine Bott
Catherine Bott presents a concert by one of the leading groups in period performance, Concentus Musicus Vienna, under their founder and director, Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Including two of Bach's secular cantatas.
Cantata No 201: Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan
Orchestral Suite No 3 in D, BWV 1068
Cantata No 211: Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht
Christine Schäfer (soprano)
Birgit Remmert (alto)
Michael Schade (tenor)
Kobie van Rensburg (tenor)
Olive Widmer (bass)
Anton Scharinger (bass)
Concentus Musicus Vienna
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (director)
3.10pm
It's a little-known fact that Bach's employment at the Court of Weimar ended (in 1717) with a month in gaol - "the County Judge's place of detention, for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal". Not one for wasting time, he apparently took the opportunity to write some of his famous '48' Preludes and Fugues. Catherine Bott, the Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orchestra and their director, harpsichordist Laurence Cummings, visit Brixton Prison in London.
The Brandenburg Concerto No 2; selected Preludes and Fugues; Cantata No 80, Ein' feste Burg
Pippa Goss (soprano)
Alexandra Gibson (mezzo)
Matthew Beale (tenor)
Alex Ashworth (bass)
Brixton prisoners' chorus (in the closing chorale)
The Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orchestra
Laurence Cummings (director/harpsichordist)
Chorale prelude: Christ ist erstanden BWV 627
Kevin Bowyer (Marcussen Organ of St Hans Kirke, Odense)
Cantata No 16: Herr Gott sich loben Wir
Sytse Buwalda (contralto)
Nico Van der Meel (tenor)
Bas Ramselaar (bass)
Holland Boys' Choir
Netherlands Bach Collegium
Pieter Jan Leusink (director)
17:00
Sean Rafferty
Sean Rafferty's guest today is the conductor Stephen Cleobury who introduces specially-recorded performances of the Bach Motets.
Singet dem herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225
Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227
BBC Singers
Richard Pearce (organ continuo)
Peter McCarthy (violone)
Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
Cantata No 55: Ich armer Mensch, ich Sundenknecht
Cantata No 115: Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit
19:00
Petroc Trelawny
Petroc Trelawny presents a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion which is considered a pinnacle of Western music and one of the most original music dramas of any age. Bach's intensely moving account of the events leading up to the Crucifixion interweaves the narration of Christ's mission and his political fate with mankind's response, in a sequence of impassioned and meditative arias and chorales.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, offers his thoughts on the spiritual content of the St Matthew Passion before a performance given at the Proms in 1998.
Evangelist ...... Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Christus ...... Franz-Josef Selig (bass)
Sibylla Rubens (soprano)
Andreas Scholl (counter-tenor)
Werner Güra (tenor)
Dietrich Henschel (bass)
Chorus and Orchestra of Collegium Vocale, Ghent
Philippe Herreweghe (conductor)
22:00
Fiona Talkington
Fiona Talkington presents performances of Bach's Keyboard Partita in G, Cantata No 6 and Suites No 1 and No 4 for solo cello.
Keyboard Partita in G, BWV 829
Richard Goode (piano)
Cantata No 6: Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend
in a recording from the early 1970s by
Anna Reynolds (contralto)
Peter Schreier (tenor)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra
Karl Richter (conductor)
Plus, from a specially-recorded concert at The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great, London, by Jean Guihen Queyras, the Suites No 1 and No 4 for solo cello.
00:00
Louise Fryer
Thursday 22 Dec
Louise Fryer
Louise Fryer presents some of Bach's cantatas from his second Leipzig cycle, and ends with the 1725 version of the St John Passion.
00.01am
Magnificat in E flat, BWV 243a
Emma Kirkby, Judith Nelson (soprano)
Carolyn Watkinson (alto)
Paul Elliott (tenor)
David Thomas (bass)
Choir of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford
Academy of Ancient Music
Simon Preston (director)
00.37am
Air in Cm, BWV 991, reconstructed Videla
Mario Videla (clavichord)
00.42am
Cantata No 96: Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn
Yukari Nonoshita (soprano)
Timothy Kenworthy-Brown (alto)
Makoto Sakurada (tenor)
Peter Kooij (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki (director)
01.01am
Andrew Manze introduces his recording of Violin sonata in G, BWV 1019, version 3
Andrew Manze (violin)
Richard Egarr (harpsichord)
Jaap ter Linden (cello)
1.19am
Cantata No 180: Schmucke dich, o liebe Seele
Ann Monoyios (soprano)
Angus Davidson (alto)
Charles Daniels (tenor)
Peter Harvey (bass)
Gabrieli Consort and Players
Paul McCreesh (director)
1.39am
Prelude and fugue in Bm, BWV 544
Lionel Rogg (Silberman organ, Arlesheim)
1.52am
Cantata No 139: Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott
Alan Bergius (soprano)
Paul Esswood (alto)
Kurt Equiluz (tenor)
Robert Holl (bass)
Tolz Boys Choir
Concentus Musicus Vienna
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (director)
2.11am
Kleine harmonisches Labyrinth, BWV 591
Kevin Bowyer (Marcussen organ of St Hanskirke Odense, Denmark)
2.15am
Fantasia in C, unfinished, BWV 573
Christopher Herrick (Metzler organ of Pfarrkirche St Michael, Kaisten, Switzerland)
2.17am
Cantata No 118: O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner (director)
2.28am
Fantasia and fughetta in B flat, BWV 907
Robert Hill (lute-harpsichord)
2.32am
Cantata No 116: Du Friedefurst, Herr Jesu Christ
Edith Mathis (soprano)
Trudeliese Schmidt (alto)
Peter Schreier (tenor)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (bass)
Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra
Karl Richter (conductor)
2.51am
Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D, BWV 1050
Henryk Szeryng (violin)
Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute)
George Malcolm (harpsichord)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner (conductor)
3.13am
Cantata No 3: Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
Vienna Boys' Choir
Paul Esswood (alto)
Kurt Equiluz (tenor)
Max von Egmond (bass)
Chorus Viennensis,
Concentus Musicus Vienna
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (director)
3.37am
Fantasia and fugue in Cm, BWV 908
Robert Hill (lute-harpsichord)
3.41am
Cantata No 111: Was mein Gott will, BWV 111
Joanne Lunn (soprano)
Sara Mingardo (alto)
Julian Podger (tenor)
Stephen Varcoe (bass)
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner (director)
3.57am
Prelude and fugue in Cm, BWV 549
Hans Fagius (Cahman organ of Leufsta Bruk, Sweden)
4.02am
Prelude and fugue in Dm, BWV 549a
Christopher Herrick (Metzler organ of Stadtkirche, Rheinfelden, Switzerland)
4.08am
Cantata No 125: Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin
Ingeborg Danz (alto)
Mark Padmore (tenor)
Peter Kooij (bass)
Collegium Vocale Ghent
Philippe Herreweghe (director)
4.32am
Prelude and fugue in G, BWV 550
Colin Andrews (Rieger organ of Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Bristol)
4.40am
Cantata No 126: Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort
Anna Reynolds (alto)
Peter Schreier (tenor)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (bass)
Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra
Karl Richter (conductor)
4.58am
Chorale Preludes BWV 708 - 710
Peter Hurford (Phelps/Wolff organ of Our Lady of Sorrows, Toronto)
5.04am
St John Passion BWV 245 (1725 version)
Ruth Holton (soprano)
Bogna Bartosz (alto)
Markus Brutscher (tenor)
Thomas Laske (baritone)
Tom Sol (Bass)
Cologne Chamber Choir
Collegium Cartusianum
Peter Neumann (conductor)
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