Post by erik on May 20, 2023 19:50:17 GMT -5
Modern-day legendary trumpeter Alison Balsom is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight with her arrangement of seven excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio.
Bach: SUITE FROM THE CHRISTMAS ORATORIO (ARRANGED BY ALISON BALSOM)
Although frequently overshadowed during the holidays by his close contemporary George Frideric Handel’s immortal oratorio “Messiah”, Johann Sebastian Bach’s own Christmas Oratorio remains part of the Christmas music canon in classical music even unto this day, nearly three centuries after the fact. Actual live performances of the work are far less frequent than for Handel’s work, despite the similar lengths of each (averaging two and a half hours) because the choral text is entirely in German and not always easy for English-speaking audiences to understand. Bach was inclined to put the oratorio together in 1735 from various cantatas he composed some five to ten years earlier with new text. Once the Baroque era ended, however, much of Bach’s music fell into obscurity until the mid-19th century, when Felix Mendelssohn led a full-scale revival of his fellow Leipzig resident’s work. Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ conducting of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion also led to a full-scale Bach revival in England. Further impetus to revive Bach came about from the period-instrument movement that had begun during the mid-1950’s to counteract some of the extreme orchestral embellishments of Baroque-era works by such conductors as Sir Thomas Beecham and Leopold Stokowski. In 2019, English trumpet player Alison Balsom, known for using both modern and valveless trumpets (the latter a fixture of the period-instrument crowd) made an arrangement of excerpts from the Christmas Oratorio with her own period-instrument orchestra called the Balsom Ensemble. The seven excerpts that Ms. Balsom used are, with the exception of the Sinfonia In G Major, all arranged for three trumpets and timpani with strings and basso continuo show the work’s solemn and celebratory nature, and consist of: (1) Exult In God In Every Land; (2) Ah, My Heart’s Beloved Little Jesus; (3) Lord, When Our Insolent Enemies Snarl; (4) Sinfonia In G Major; (5) Ruler Of Heaven, Hear Our Babble; (6) How Shall I Embrace You; and (7) Now Vengeance Hath Been Taken.
Trumpet: ALISON BALSOM
Balsom Ensemble Orchestra/SIMON WRIGHT (EMI/Warner)
Included:
Handel: MUSIC FOR THE ROYAL FIREWORKS, HWV 351
Purcell: TRUMPET SONATA IN D MAJOR, Z 850
Bach: JESU, JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING/FROM THE CANTATA “HEART AND MOUTH AND DEED AND LIFE”, BWV 147
Telemann: TRUMPET CONCERTO IN D MAJOR, TWV 51/D7
Purcell: MUSIC FOR QUEEN MARY’S FUNERAL. Z 860/58C
Bach: SUITE FROM THE CHRISTMAS ORATORIO (ARRANGED BY ALISON BALSOM)
Although frequently overshadowed during the holidays by his close contemporary George Frideric Handel’s immortal oratorio “Messiah”, Johann Sebastian Bach’s own Christmas Oratorio remains part of the Christmas music canon in classical music even unto this day, nearly three centuries after the fact. Actual live performances of the work are far less frequent than for Handel’s work, despite the similar lengths of each (averaging two and a half hours) because the choral text is entirely in German and not always easy for English-speaking audiences to understand. Bach was inclined to put the oratorio together in 1735 from various cantatas he composed some five to ten years earlier with new text. Once the Baroque era ended, however, much of Bach’s music fell into obscurity until the mid-19th century, when Felix Mendelssohn led a full-scale revival of his fellow Leipzig resident’s work. Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ conducting of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion also led to a full-scale Bach revival in England. Further impetus to revive Bach came about from the period-instrument movement that had begun during the mid-1950’s to counteract some of the extreme orchestral embellishments of Baroque-era works by such conductors as Sir Thomas Beecham and Leopold Stokowski. In 2019, English trumpet player Alison Balsom, known for using both modern and valveless trumpets (the latter a fixture of the period-instrument crowd) made an arrangement of excerpts from the Christmas Oratorio with her own period-instrument orchestra called the Balsom Ensemble. The seven excerpts that Ms. Balsom used are, with the exception of the Sinfonia In G Major, all arranged for three trumpets and timpani with strings and basso continuo show the work’s solemn and celebratory nature, and consist of: (1) Exult In God In Every Land; (2) Ah, My Heart’s Beloved Little Jesus; (3) Lord, When Our Insolent Enemies Snarl; (4) Sinfonia In G Major; (5) Ruler Of Heaven, Hear Our Babble; (6) How Shall I Embrace You; and (7) Now Vengeance Hath Been Taken.
Trumpet: ALISON BALSOM
Balsom Ensemble Orchestra/SIMON WRIGHT (EMI/Warner)
Included:
Handel: MUSIC FOR THE ROYAL FIREWORKS, HWV 351
Purcell: TRUMPET SONATA IN D MAJOR, Z 850
Bach: JESU, JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING/FROM THE CANTATA “HEART AND MOUTH AND DEED AND LIFE”, BWV 147
Telemann: TRUMPET CONCERTO IN D MAJOR, TWV 51/D7
Purcell: MUSIC FOR QUEEN MARY’S FUNERAL. Z 860/58C