Kothener Funeral Music

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Performers:

Sabine Devieilhe
Raphael Pichon
Damien Guyon

Label:

on CD, demonstrated both its great class and ability this evening. In each of the movements there was continuous play between tension and relaxation. The intensity was palpable in every bow stroke, whether it was expressive legato, spine-tingling tremolo, or biting sul ponticello. The musicians kept cutting each other off purposefully. The light-footed motif of eight measures that in the first movement (

Release date: 27/02/2026

Available at

on CD, demonstrated both its great class and ability this evening. In each of the movements there was continuous play between tension and relaxation. The intensity was palpable in every bow stroke, whether it was expressive legato, spine-tingling tremolo, or biting sul ponticello. The musicians kept cutting each other off purposefully. The light-footed motif of eight measures that in the first movement (

When Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen died in 1728, his former music director had not forgotten his five glorious years in service to the prince. Johann Sebastian Bach composed a funeral cantata in his memory, drawn almost exclusively from two major works of that period: the Trauerode and the St. Matthew Passion. The score has been lost, but the libretto and other sources have now made it possible to bring the work back to life. Raphael Pichon takes us on a fascinating musical detective journey in his first recording for Harmonia Mundi.

Reviews

"The reconstruction, the result of three years of work, can convince even critical listeners. (...) It is a remarkable experience to hear familiar sounds with new text and thus in a new context."