Letter V Classical Radio this week

A Christmas Eve special, at a special time.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” is the main attraction. We’ll hear it in its entirety, but not all three hours of it uninterrupted. Bach composed the oratorio as a sequence of six cantatas, each meant to be performed on a church feast day from Christmas Day to Epiphany.

We’ll exploit that portioning by placing among the cantatas complementary works of other composers: Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass and Christmas works by Respighi, Corelli, Claude Benigne Balbastre and Charles Theodore Pachelbel (Johann Pachelbel’s son, who lived and worked in Boston in the late 1700s.)

Dec. 24
1-5 p.m. EST
1800-2200 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

J.S. Bach: “Christmas Oratorio”
Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
Andreas Scholl, alto
Werner Güra, tenor
Klaus Häger, bass
RIAS Chamber Choir
Akademie für alte Musik Berlin/
René Jacobs
(Harmonia Mundi)

Corelli: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 (“Christmas Concerto”)
London Baroque/
Charles Medlam
(Bis)

Claude Benigne Balbastre:
Noël, “Ah ma voisine es-tu fàchée”
René Saorgin, organ
(Harmonia Mundi)

Mozart: Mass in C major, K. 317 (“Coronation”)
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Catherine Robbin, contralto
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Michael George, bass
Winchester Cathedral Choir
Winchester College Quiristers
Academy of Ancient Music/
Christopher Hogwood
(L’Oiseau Lyre)

Charles Theodore Pachelbel: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum”
The Columbus Consort (Channel Classics)

Respighi: “Lauda per
la Nativtà del Signore”
Yeree Suh, soprano (Angel)
Kristine Larissa Funkhauser,
mezzo-soprano (Mary)
Krystian Adam, baritone (Shepherd)
Berlin Radio Choir
Polyphonia Ensemble Berlin/Märis Sirmais
(Carus)