Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

If this were a CD release your reviewer would be singing its praises. The musical content is interesting: we open with "Magnificat In C Major" by Johann Kuhnau, a neglected composer who was Bach's predecessor as cantor at St Thomas's church in Leipzig. Next we move on to "Meine Seel Erhebt Den Herren" by Bach himself (BWV 10) and then his "Magnificat In E Flat Major' (BWV 243a) which, it has to be said, is magnificent. Ton Koopman and The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir are supremely competent in the field of period music and do the music full justice. As an audio release this is outstanding. But there is a "but". This is a DVD release and this is where the problem lies. All the performers are in the correct place: up in the musicians' gallery above the nave - where there is hardly room for a fiddler to bend her elbow. As this is a live recording with an audience down below I imagine the poor camera crew were very restricted and given that St Thomas's Church is a Protestant building with very little ornamentation there is very little to look at. So we get an audio treat but visually there is little of interest.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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