Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano)
Frederick Stone (harpsichord)
Norina Semino (cello)
The South London Bach Society
Conductor, Paul Steinitz
Aimee van de Wiele (harpsichord)
Arnold Richardson (organ)
Chorale preludes:
Kyrie Gott heiliger
Geist Von Gott will ich nicht lassen
Songs with harpsichord and cello continuo:
Lieibster Herr Jesu ; Komm, susser Tod; Bist du bei mir
Partita in B minor: Ouverture a la franchise, for harpsichord
Motet: Furchite dich nicht
Third of a series of programmes of music by Bach. devised by Basil Lam
Even the first of Bach's biographers admitted that the four motets for double chorus were in every way unsurpassed. ' Furchte dich nicht ' is probably the finest of the four and was composed when Bach was less busy than usual with the routine production of church cantatas. Its first performance may have taken place early in 1726, during the commemorative service for Frau Winckler , wife of the inspector of the town arsenal, Leipzig. The sermon preached by Salomo Deyling on this occasion was based on the text Bach used in his motet: ' Fear not, for I have redeemed thee ' (Isaiah 43). Denis Stevens