‘Vox Luminis & Reinoud Van Mechelen’

Can you imagine a supply of firewood, kindling and grain - the olden day equivalent of eco-cheques and luncheon vouchers - making up part of your salary? And yet that was what the young Bach earned as an organist in the Blasius Church of Muhlhausen, fortunately with some cash on top of it! The young Bach performed his very first cantatas in the company of city musicians. His brilliance was immediately obvious, as demonstrated by Nach Dir, Herr, verlanget michn (Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul). The aria Zedern Müssen von den Winden (Cedars must, before the winds, often feel much hardship) is about cedar trees being thrashed by a storm, and the cello score Bach wrote for it rages like the wind. Or take his first masterpiece, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (God's time is the very best time), a funeral cantata also known as Actus tragicus. In the opening section, two treble recorders and two viola da gambas weave a brilliant melancholy web, after which the choir begins the ode to life after death. The delicate and warm tenor voice of Reinoud Van Mechelen and the widely acclaimed voices of Vox Luminis don’t give you the slightest reason to ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’ (‘Weep, Lament, Worry, Fear’).
Listen to the playlist "Bach Heritage" on Spotify