John Eliot Gardiner celebrates Christmas with works by two giants of European sacred music: Johann Sebastian Bach and Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
In the same spirit, an irresistible rendition of laughter in music opens one of Bach's most festive cantatas: Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, written for Christmas Day 1725 in Leipzig. Schwingt freudig euch empor, composed for the first Sunday of Advent in 1731, looks forward to the birth of Christ with dancing choruses and one of Bach's most intimate and touching arias, Auch mit gedämpf ten, schwachen Stimmen. Drawing on his passion for French music as much as for Bach's work, Gardiner paints a colourful Baroque portrait of the Nativity celebrations!
