Christmas Oratorio – Carus Choir Coach

Bach's Christmas Oratorio is undeniably the number ONE in the Christmas repertoire of choirs as well as in popularity with audiences. The Christmas story, according to the Gospels of St. Luke and St. Matthew, combined with free poetry and individual chorale stanzas attains, together with the clearly structured, festive Baroque music, an eloquent radiance of timeless beauty. To confidently keep up with the frequent, sometimes very rapid sixteenth-coloraturas – for example in the "herrliche Chöre" (no. 1), the "Wohlgefallen" (no. 21, Vivace!), and the "Schnauben der stolzen Feinde" (no. 54) – practicing with the Slow Mode of the app is particularly recommended.

The Carus Choir Coach offers choir singers the unique opportunity to study and learn their own, individual choral parts within the context of the sound of the entire choir and orchestra. For every vocal range a separate CD containing each choir part is available. The CD is based on recorded interpretations by renowned artists who have performed the work from carefully prepared Carus Urtext editions. Each choir part is presented in three different versions:

• Original recording
• Coach: each part is accompanied by the piano, with the original recording sounding in the background
• Coach in slow mode: the tempo of the coach slows down to 70% of the original version – through this reduction passages can be learned more effectively.

Artists:

• Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
• Andreas Scholl, alto
• Werner Güra, tenor
• Klaus Häger, bass
• RIAS Kammerchor
• Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
• René Jacobs, Conductor