Morimur

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), countertenor David James (Performer), violin Christoph Poppen (Performer), soprano Monika Mauch (Performer), tenor John Potter (Performer), Hilliard Ensemble (Performer), baritone Gordon Jones (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: countertenor David James, violin Christoph Poppen, soprano Monika Mauch, tenor John Potter, Hilliard Ensemble, et al.
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (September 25, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: ECM Records
• ASIN: B00005ND3J
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #75,476 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
In 1994, explains the booklet that accompanies Morimur, Professor Helga Thoene made the surprising discovery that the monumental "Ciaccona" from Bach's Partita in D minor for solo violin was built around various chorale themes hidden in the music. From the texts of these "secret" chorales and other symbolic musical devices, she deduced that the "Ciaccona" was an epitaph for Bach's wife, Maria Barbara. The revelation might have remained an intriguing (and touching) footnote to Bach scholarship if baroque violinist Christoph Poppen hadn't had the bright idea of taking Professor Thoene's discovery off the library shelves and placing it triumphantly in the concert hall. On this disc, his performance of all five movements of the whole Partita (BWV 1004) is interspersed with the various chorales hidden inside the "Ciaccona," sung with breathtaking precision by the Hilliard Ensemble. The double whammy comes at the end when the "Ciaccona" is performed again, this time with the singers bringing out the secret melodies. Poppen's playing is excellent, both sweet-toned and vibrant, while the Hilliards have never sounded better: the combination of the two is spine-tingling. It is as if Maria Barbara's proper epitaph has finally been realized, and a moving and wonderfully stimulating recording created in the process. --Warwick Thompson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baroque Mysticism, October 23, 2001

By	Joanne Fisher (Harrison Township, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This album attempts (and largely succeeds, in my opinion) to make clear to the listener what musicologists are exploring theoretically: that J.S. Bach used concepts of numerology to write a subtext within his Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin.

The Six Sonatas and Partitas have long been a favorite of mine. Vocalists hold the vocal line of several familiar Chorales against the solo violin part, and demonstrate that Bach used the Chorales as an unheard cantus firmus for the solo violin part.

I enjoy this recording not only for the musicological exercise but because the end result is richly satisfying simply to the casual listener. It brings a whole new dimension to the Partita.
Often music theorists expound ideas which are visible only on the printed page, not audible to listeners, or at least not audible to other than highly specialized listeners. In this album, for once we get a chance to actually hear the results.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars musicology meets musicality, February 11, 2002

By A Customer

this is about as good as it gets and those who have criticized the violin playing ("shallow tone" etc.) probably just don't happen to like the sound of the baroque violin and the style in which it invites one to play it. the instruments played by your veghs, menuhins, heifetzes etc. have without exception been extensively tampered with since they left their makers' workbenches in order to produce the bigger but blander sound more suited to more recent music and preferred by many modern ears. a modern g, and i think, d string notwithstanding (see telltale photo), poppen is playing an instrument that more closely resembles what bach and near contemporaries such as antonio stradivari and guarneri del gesu would have recognised as a violin. a correspondingly "modern" approach to the singing would probably have disfigured bach's harmonies (exquisitely tuned by the hilliards) with pitch-altering vibrato - ugh!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine, January 10, 2002

By	nathaniel cabot (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

The Austrian Monastary where this recording was made must have inspired the artists to achieve the results that are evident on this album. Pitch perfect four part vocals combine with Baroque violin to transport the listener to a spiritual place Bach surely intended. And I am not even particularly religious. Let it suffice to say, for anyone with a modicum of appreciation for harmony and melody, this music will provide much enjoyment.