Classical CDs Weekly: Christmas CDs 2020 | reviews, news & interviews Classical CDs Weekly: Christmas CDs 2020
Classical CDs Weekly: Christmas CDs 2020
Ten choice discs for the festive season
by Graham RicksonSaturday, 19 December 2020
Another year, another new Bach
Christmas Oratorio. Not that I’m complaining; this one is another zinger, up there with excellent contemporary versions from Stephen Layton and John Butt. Rainer Johannes Homberg’s Stuttgart Hymnus Boys’ Choir sing with incisive clarity, high-class support coming from Handel’s Company and a starry trio of trumpets. The first cantata’s opening chorus is all brassy exuberance, Homburg highlighting Bach’s ability to express unbuttoned joy. Try the first section of Cantata V, its dance rhythms immaculately sprung, or the unhurried splendour of Cantata VI’s finale. He has excellent soloists too: the tiny four-voice recitative just before the end of No 6 is sublime, Bach’s genius comp