Title : Morimur (after J.S. Bach)
Author : Bach, Johann Sebastian
Release Date : 20010925
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $17.98
Amazon.com Price : $14.99
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Editorial Reviews : In 1994, explains the booklet that accompanies Morimur, Professor Helga Thoene made the surprising discovery that the monumental 'Ciaccona' from Bach's Partita in D minor for solo violin was built around various chorale themes hidden in the music. From the texts of these 'secret' chorales and other symbolic musical devices, she deduced that the 'Ciaccona' was an epitaph for Bach's wife, Maria Barbara. The revelation might have remained an intriguing (and touching) footnote to Bach scholarship if baroque violinist Christoph Poppen hadn't had the bright idea of taking Professor Thoene's discovery off the library shelves and placing it triumphantly in the concert hall. On this disc, his performance of all five movements of the whole Partita (BWV 1004) is interspersed with the various chorales hidden inside the 'Ciaccona,' sung with breathtaking precision by the Hilliard Ensemble. The double whammy comes at the end when the 'Ciaccona' is performed again, this time with the singers bringing out the secret melodies. Poppen's playing is excellent, both sweet-toned and vibrant, while the Hilliards have never sounded better: the combination of the two is spine-tingling. It is as if Maria Barbara's proper epitaph has finally been realized, and a moving and wonderfully stimulating recording created in the process.
Buyer Reviews : It is well known that Bach was a mystical composer in the most Lutheran sense.
In this fabulous CD, the arduous studies of Helga Thoene in connecting the glorious Bach Chaconne in D minor to several of standard German church hymns are realized.
We hear each of the crucial hymns sung by themselves, interspersed with interludes of each of the famous Second Partita's movements played on the Solo Violin. The Finale is the coup de grace: the violin plays the final Chaconne once more - but this time the hymns are heard at the same time.
The result is one of great spirituality and profound subtleties and of the most enjoyable revelations of the music of Bach yet.
I recommend this to lovers of Bach, Hymns, Chorales, Violin music and mysticism. If it were possible to rate this higher than 5 stars, I would not hesitate. The singing is exquisitely sensitive as is the violin interpretation.
