This week on Choral Concert Peter Togni brings us the two great composers that defined the baroque era: Bach and Handel.
These two giants were both born in 1685, but they grew up to be very different people. Johann Sebastian Bach’s music is deeply intelligent and breathtakingly complex in its musical architecture. His mastery of interweaving, contrapuntal lines has made him the favourite of many a musical mathematician.
In contrast George Frederic Handel’s music is grandiose, with a direct and immediate passion that sweeps us away with its overwhelming purity.
Of course Bach could be passionate and Handel calculated, but if you drill down into the essence of their musical output, Handel is the heart and Bach the head, and together the two men offer a comprehensive panorama of one the greatest periods in musical history.
You will hear highlights from Handel’s oratorio Isreal in Egypt in a live concert with the BBC singers, plus a sneak peek of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir’s upcoming release of the Messiah.
From J.S. Bach you will hear his famous cantata Wachet Auf with the Bach choir of Bethlehem, and the cantata Jesu, Meine Freude in an excellent performance by the Ottawa Bach Choir.
Choral Concert, the “Climax of the Baroque” edition. This Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 9:00 - 11:00 a.m., (9:30 - 11:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2.
Related Links:
In Tune covers vocal music and opera
Sondra Radvanofsky appears with the TSO
Elect Canada's greatest pianist of 2012