| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 15-Dec-2012 Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn | Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra shines in the Christmas Oratorio |
 The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra summoned the spirit of the holiday season this weekend with their performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The work was originally composed for church services taking place during the Christmas season of 1734. Tonight’s performance featured the entire work, which was originally split into six sections, each intended for a different day.
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| 15-Dec-2012 Lincoln Center: Alice Tully Hall | Not another Messiah: Herreweghe's Christmas Oratorio in NYC |
 The Christmas Oratorio is an odd work to perform in concert, but it makes a welcome change from the obligatory annual Messiah. Bach’s piece contains six separate cantatas that tell the traditional Nativity narrative, all subsumed under the broader theme. But this is not the St Matthew Passion with added shepherds and Magi, even though many of the chorale settings from the Passions find their way into the Oratorio. These six cantatas were designed to be heard spread over the period between Christmas and Epiphany.Read full review... | |
| 14-Dec-2012 Queen's Hall, Edinburgh | Ludus Baroque perform J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Edinburgh |
 In brief introductory remarks, founder and director of Ludus Baroque Richard Neville-Towle outlined three significant features of the performance. The indicated presence of a crib signified that this was to be a devotional performance, and being able to make sense of this is possibly what divides the faithful from the faithless. A move from the home turf of the Canongate Kirk to the larger acoustic of the Queen’s Hall had been undertaken to highlight increased interplay between orchestra and singers.Read full review... | |
| 15-Dec-2011 Perth Concert Hall (Horsecross) | Dunedin Consort's superb Bach for Christmas at Perth Concert Hall |
 The Dunedin Consort and Players is running a series of three concerts over the coming months, each programming two of Bach’s Brandenberg Concertos interspersed with two Cantatas. Although strictly speaking still in Advent, when Leipzig frowned on elaborate church music, a large crowd turned out to hear this imaginative all-Bach programme for this Christmas season in Perth Concert Hall.
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