Over to Manchester this Christmas Day, via Madrid for a concert by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Juanjo Mena and featuring Susan Bickley, mezz-soprano, Nicholas Mulroy, and the Manchester Chamber Choir in a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV 248. It was recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3 (originally) on November 19, 2011 and re-broadcast by RNE Radio Clasica on December 23rd.
Following the Bach, a performance of Bruckner’s Symphony Number 6 to end up the concert.
The Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a church service on a feast day of the Christmas period. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach’s autograph manuscript. The next complete public performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander).
The work belongs to a group of three oratorios written in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the other two works being the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). All three of these oratorios to some degree parody earlier compositions. The Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest and most complex work of the three.
A sought-after guest conductor, Juanjo Mena has led Europe’s top ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, London Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic among others. He also appears regularly with all the major orchestras in his native Spain. Following his North American debut with the Baltimore Symphony in 2004, he has conducted most of the continent’s leading orchestras. They include the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Montreal Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. In Asia, he is a regular guest conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.
Susan Bickley first appeared with the Royal Opera in London in 1991 as Fyodor in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and has subsequently appeared in more than ten other productions with the company. These include as Lyudmila in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Mrs Peacham in The Beggar’s Opera, Old Countess in Shostakovitch’s The Nose in 2016 and in 2018/19 both Second Harlot and the Queen of Sheba in Handel’s Solomon (in concert) and Marfa in Janáček’s Katya Kabanova.
Nicholas Mulroy has sung John Tavener’s Requiem with BBCNOW, Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires with Mr McFall’s Chamber (also recorded for Delphian), Berio’s Sinfonia with RLPO, Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Britten Sinfonia in China, Haydn’s Creation with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Britten’s Serenade with Orquesta del Principado de Asturias, Britten’s Nocturne and Mozart’s Requiem with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded extensively, with credits including a Gramophone Award-winning Messiah and critical acclaim has followed for recordings of Matthäus-Passion, María de Buenos Aires, and projects with Theatre of the Ayre and the English Baroque Soloists. Highlights this season include Bach with the Royal Concertgebouworkest and Finnish Radio Symphony, a curated program of Bach, Purcell and Silvio Rodríguez with Aurora Orchestra, and Handel with Philharmonia Baroque in the USA.
Enjoy the concert – goes well with eggnog.
