Magnificat - Christmas in Leipzig Solomon's Knot

• Johann Schelle (1648 - 1701):
• 1 Machet die Tore weit 09:11
• Johann Kuhnau (1660 - 1722): Magnificat in C Major:
• 2 Magnificat in C Major: I. Magnificat anima mea 02:03
• 3 Magnificat in C Major: II. Et exsultavit spiritus meus 02:04
• 4 Magnificat in C Major: III. Quia respexit humilitatem 02:38
• 5 Magnificat in C Major: IV. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her 00:55
• 6 Magnificat in C Major: V. Quia fecit mihi magna 01:37
• 7 Magnificat in C Major: VI. Freut euch und jubiliert 01:39
• 8 Magnificat in C Major: VII. Et misericordia eius 03:30
• 9 Magnificat in C Major: VIII. Fecit potentiam 00:59
• 10 Magnificat in C Major: IX. Deposuit potentes 00:34
• 11 Magnificat in C Major: X. Esurientes implevit bonis 01:13
• 12 Magnificat in C Major: XI. Gloria in excelsis Deo 01:06
• 13 Magnificat in C Major: XII. Suscepit Israel 02:19
• 14 Magnificat in C Major: XIII. Sicut locutus est 01:39
• 15 Magnificat in C Major: XIV. Virga Jesse floruit 02:01
• 16 Magnificat in C Major: XV. Gloria Patri, gloria Filio 01:39
• 17 Magnificat in C Major: XVI. Sicut erat in principio 01:37
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a:
• 18 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: I. Magnificat anima mea 02:50
• 19 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: II. Et exsultavit 02:21
• 20 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: III. Vom Himmel hoch 01:34
• 21 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: IV. Quia respexit 04:12
• 22 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: V. Quia fecit mihi magna 02:11
• 23 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: V. Freut euch und jubiliert 01:21
• 24 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: VII. Et misericordia eius 03:26
• 25 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: VIII. Fecit potentiam 01:44
• 26 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: IX. Gloria in excelsis Deo 01:00
• 27 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: X. Deposuit potentes 01:49
• 28 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: XI. Esurientes implevit bonis 02:35
• 29 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: XII. Virga Jesse floruit 03:09
• 30 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: XIII. Suscepit Israel 01:55
• 31 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: XIV. Sicut locutus est 01:38
• 32 Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: XV. Gloria Patri 02:02
• Total Runtime 01:10:31

Info for Magnificat - Christmas in Leipzig

Opening with Schelle’s sacred concerto Machet die Tore weit, followed by Kuhnau’s Magnificat which provided Bach with the blueprint for his 1723 version in Eb (including Christmas lauds), the album traces the connection between the three ‘Johanns’ who were consecutive cantors at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig through their festive music for the Advent and Christmas period.

Solomon's Knot
Jonathan Sells, conductor

Solomon's Knot
Determined to communicate the full power of 17th- and 18th-century music as directly as possible, the collective Solomon’s Knot was founded in London in 2008. Led by artistic director Jonathan Sells, the group performs without a conductor, the singers by heart.

What began a decade ago as a promise never to lose the joy of performing, to blow the dust off early music and break down the barriers of classical music has evolved into Solomon’s Knot’s reputation today: direct communication, adventurous programming and bold trademark performances from memory.

Our flexible approach enables us to explore a wide range of repertoire, especially music written before 1800, from the madrigals of Gesualdo to JS Bach’s Mass in B minor with 10 singers and 20 instrumentalists, or the rediscovery of the anonymous opera Lospedale' (ca. 1650), available on DVD.

By exploring new ways of presenting ancient music to ‘modern’ ears, eyes and minds, we work closely together with directors, composers, choreographers, visual artists, and other ensembles. From 2013-2017 Solomon’s Knot was part of Snape Malting’s inaugural Open Space development scheme. Recent collaborations include projects with Spira mirabilis, Sven Werner, James Hurley, Tim Caroll, Federay Holmes and Les Passions de l’Ame.

We are grateful to Sir John Eliot Gardiner for his invitations to the Bachfest Leipzig in 2016 and his Barbican Bach Weekend in 2018. We have also appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, Händel-Festspiele Halle, Newbury Spring Festival, Thüringer Bachwochen, Regensburger Tage Alter Musik, Spitalfields Music Winter Festival, London Handel Festival, and St John’s Smith Square Christmas Festival.

Solomon’s Knot finished 2018 with the revival of our project ‘Christmas in Leipzig' in Nottingham and London’s Milton Court, recorded live and released on Sony Classical in 2019. “Time and again zig-zagging choruses, lightly accompanied, sprang into fire almost as if by spontaneous combustion. Most exciting.” The Times *****

Concerts in 2019 included our Wigmore Hall debut with the second version of JS Bach’s Johannes-Passion, returns to the Thüringer Bachwochen, Leipzig Bachfest, and St George’s Bristol, a residency at the Ryedale Festival, and our first appearance at the Bachwochen in Thun (Switzerland).

SKonnect, Solomon’s Knot’s education strategy, aims to take the excitement of so-called ‘early’ music into classrooms and workshops around the UK and further afield. Recently, schools in Nottingham and London have benefitted from hearing musicians perform for them live and explain the wonders of this colourful and exhilarating repertoire.

Booklet for Magnificat - Christmas in Leipzig