BACH: Gioas Re di Giuda

Rheinische Kantorei;
Das Kleine Konzert;
Max, Hermann

CPO 999895

in 1762 Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian, moved to London and lived there for twenty years until his death. His operatic successes in Naples had earned him this invitation, and as an opera composer, Londoners wanted him. But Bach wanted to create a second mainstay for himself and thought to accomplish this in the tradition of Handel with oratorios. But Handel's shadow in this genre was long, and the Londoners were particularly demanding here: Bach's only oratorio was absolutely no public success in 1770 and thereafter quickly fell into oblivion: Gioas, Rè di Giuda (Joash, King of Judah).
Yet this work is an interesting attempt to enrich the London oratorio tradition a decade after Handel's death with a work that combined the qualities of Italian opera with the achievements of the English oratorio. Hermann Max, the Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzert and Monika Frimmer, Markus Schäfer, Mechthild Georg, Kai Wessel and others as soloists impressively prove that time does relativize some things when it comes to quality judgments!

CD x 2

Muzyka klasyczna

CPO

21-11-2003

761203989522