With this new recording of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, recorded live in Barcelona in 2019 in the Palau de la Musica Catalana, a jewel of Catalanian modernist architecture, Jordi Savall offers us an eminently Latin vision of this vast fresco by the great German composer.
Prepared by Lluis Vilamajó, the Capella Reial de Catalunya's fruity, full-bodied voices offer a beautifully sensual rendering of Bach's universal message. The solo voices are naturally of the same quality and include, among other treats, the powerful androgynous alto voice of countertenor Raffaele Pe or that of the radiant tenor Martin Platz as Evangelist. The mystery of Christmas is given a humanity that is further enhanced by the heady timbres of the instruments, especially the flutes, oboes, oboes d'amore, English horns and a lush continuo. The generous acoustics (generous to the point that they sometimes create some confusion in the tutti) in the Palau de la Musica contribute to the beauty of the ensemble, and build a joyful and healthy fervour.
It should be remembered that, for his Christmas Oratorio, Bach, as was his custom, had brought in passages from his earlier works at a time when what had already been composed was rarely performed again. But Bach's genius has unified these six cantatas, some of whose music is derived from earlier sacred and secular works. The seams are invisible and the garment appears to us in all its coherence and splendour. © François Hudry/Qobuz