An Evening with JS Bach

Presenting two contrasting genres of Bach's genius, Exeter Festival Chorus performs four of his scintillating German motets, composed for the choir of St Thomas' Leipzig. These are interspersed with Peter Adcock playing two of Bach's charming and elegant French Suites, given by Bach as a wedding gift to his new wife, Anna Magdalena.

Bach belongs to a time when composers were employees, usually of the court and/or church. Such positions brought responsibilities to compose to order for the regular round of services and ceremonial occasions. Yet within these boundaries Bach produced works of astonishing invention. While many of the choral motets were written for specific funerals, the keyboard suites gave Bach an opportunity to explore for himself, rather than for public consumption, how to stretch traditional dance forms.