Orchestra of the 18th Century

Easter Oratorio Orchestra of the 18th Century

In keeping with the tradition of Frans Brüggen and the Orchestra of the 18th Century, this release was also recorded live in concert. Together with the vocal soloists Ilse Eerens, Michael Chance, Markus Schäfer and David Wilson-Johnson as well as the Cappella Amsterdam, which performs the choruses, Frans Brüggen and his legendary ensemble went on a spring tour in 2012, during which Johann Sebastian Bach's Easter Oratorio was at the center of the program. The conductor, who died in 2014, was one of the most influential figures in so-called historical performance practice, but he was never a fan of the practice of casting all voices as soloists. Thus, the interpretation of the Easter Oratorio presented here offers a magnificent range of tonal colors that bring out the extraordinary beauty of the work even more clearly. This album is completed by a "hypothetical" organ concerto composed from various instrumental movements from the cantatas BWV 35 and BWV 156, based on an idea by Frans Brüggen himself.