Alle fronde dei salici
Vox Musica

Vox Musica Vocal & Instrumental Ensemble

Michael Berman, conductor

Johann Michael Bach (1648–1694)

Liebster Jesu, hör mein Flehen

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

Chorale Prelude: An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653b

Johann Michael Bach

Halt, was du hast

Johann Sebastian Bach

Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150

35' | Admission included with ticket offered by Gruppo Tea

PLEASE NOTE: Tickets may be reserved and collected only at the Trame Sonore Festival Box Office

The journey through memory and form continues with the legacy of the Bach family, in a repertoire where the complexity of writing never obscures the clarity of the religious message. In these works, every word reaches the listener with absolute precision.

The urgency of the original compositions is restored by the Vox Musica Vocal & Instrumental Ensemble, conducted by Michael Berman, using period instruments and historically informed performance practice.

The music of Johann Michael Bach reaches one of the high points of the late seventeenth-century German motet tradition. In Liebster Jesu, hör mein Flehen, the five-voice dialogue transforms prayer into musical exegesis, with interwoven imitations and a basso continuo of austere depth. More forceful is Halt, was du hast, built on the contrast between rigor and ascending impulse, in a tightly woven dialogue between biblical text and chorale.

The family legacy finds full realization in Johann Sebastian Bach. In the chorale An Wasserflüssen Babylon, inspired by Psalm 137, the sorrow of exile is rendered through fluid, song-like counterpoint, while the early cantata Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich already reveals the architectural strength of his language, with ascending motion and spiritual tension culminating in a final chaconne-like movement.

Text by Martina Sangermano