JS BACH Köthener Trauermusik
Solomon’s Knot / Jonathan Sells
LINN
Johann Sebastian Bach, in his capacity as honorary Kapellmeister was asked to provide music for the funeral of Prince Leopold of Anhalt Cöthen in 1729. Already, of course, in Leipzig by then, Bach worked with his new colleague the poet Picander, Christian Friedrich Henrici. Whilst his texts survive – as does the order of service – Bach’s scores do not, and so much of the careful reconstruction that has happened to date has focused on Picander’s poetic meters which lead virtually every aria and chorus to be matched with existing music from the St Matthew passion BWV 244 and the Trauer Ode BWV198 advancing the theory that Picander provided texts deliberately written to retro-fit existing works. The first recording of this parody theory was by Andrew Parrott (12/2011) who also wrote about his research in his monumental Composers Intentions (Awards issue/2015) at greater length. Next, Morgan Jourdain's reconstruction was recorded by Ensemble Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon (01/2015) and for this new recording Solomon’s Knot have commissioned Chad Kelly who has composed new and striking recitatives. They also use two chorales known to have been sung at the funeral but keep the same order of texts that Parrot suggested in his reconstruction, that is to say they differ in this regard to the service booklet which survives. Solomon‘s Knot, known for performing from memory in live performance, lean in to every expressive potential on this album directed by Jonathan sells, teasing out differences between the private burial service which took place the evening before the public service and that night and day distinction pervades their new album.
[...]
Through and through this is a superb performance from all involved, and it is all the more an extraordinary achievement that it was recorded live. There are just one or two details in Parrott's first reconstruction that I miss, chief among them being the viola da gamba in the first aria, but this is more than balanced by the heightened emotions of Kelly's recitatives and the sheer commitment of Jonathan Sells and his musicians. Highly recommended.
To read the full text of this review please visit gramophone.co.uk (Oct 2026)
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