Quarterly Critic’s Choice
The best and most interesting new releases of the previous three months are awarded a place on the Quarterly Critic’s Choice. Evaluation criteria are artistic quality, repertoire value, presentation, and sound quality. From 2014 onward, the Long Lists are stored directly with each Quarterly Critic’s Choice.
Early Music
Leipzig 1723
Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner: Application cantatas for the position of Thomaskantor. Ælbgut, Capella Jenensis. Accentus Music ACC 30598 (Naxos)
With these five cantatas, Telemann, Graupner and Bach applied one after the other for the position of Thomaskantor in 1723. Bach, as is well known, was only third choice. The interpretation of the four-member vocal ensemble Ælbgut and the Capella Jenensis is the best that has appeared in this field for a long time. Each movement is given its appropriate momentum, the declamation is exemplary, everything is expertly developed down to the last detail, nothing is exaggerated. This creates a completely coherent overall picture, which is excellently presented in terms of recording. For the jury: Matthias Hengelbrock