A year ago, The Bach Players performed the audition cantatas for the job of Kantor at St Thomas’s Leipzig by the three main contenders: Telemann, Graupner, and JS Bach. Now it follows the three composers’ progress a year later, with cantatas composed for Jan 30 1724, the fourth Sunday after Epiphany. The Gospel for the day tells the story of Jesus in a boat with his disciples. Jesus fell asleep; a storm arose, and the disciples panicked. But Jesus was able to calm the storm. They complement these cantatas with an orchestral suite by Graupner.
Christoph Graupner: Cantata: ‘Gott führt die seinen wunderbar’, GWV1115/24
Georg Philipp Telemann: Cantata ‘Laß dem Böse und tue Gutes’, TWV1:1308
Christoph Graupner: Ouverture in C minor, GWV413
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata: ‘Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen’, BWV81
(The Bach Players is a conductorless ensemble that plays on original instruments – soprano Rachel Elliott, alto Sally Bruce-Payne, tenor Simon Wall, bass Matthew Brook, James Eastaway, oboe, Catherine Latham, oboe/recorder, Rachel Beckett, recorder, Nicolette Moonen, violin, Anne Schumann, violin, Rachel Stott, viola, Olaf Reimers, cello, and Pawel Siwczak organ/harpsichord.)