Having recorded the complete motets composed by the ancestors of Johann Sebastian Bach (RIC 347), Vox Luminis now tackles their complete spiritual concerts and sacred cantatas, in which the instruments – particularly the strings – play a highly important role. In the cantata for the Feast of St Michael the Archangel by Johann Christoph Bach, trumpets and drums are enlisted to evoke the battle of the archangels in heaven. To round off this programme, Vox Luminis presents the cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden by Johann Sebastian Bach, in its original version dating from his Arnstadt period, containing copious elements linking it to the music of his forebears.

“Throughout this beguiling programme, Vox Luminis inhabit a world from which you’ll need to drag yourself away.”

—Gramophone

“One can hear vividly the roots from which the genius of JS Bach sprang. More please.”

—The Guardian

“There are many beautiful moments in this programme of four early cantatas by Bach…the seriousness with which Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis approach this work is evident, and the forces are ideal”

—BBC Magazine