Bach & Sandström

The splendid Singet dem Herrn once made Mozart prick up his ears. ‘You can learn something from that’, he is reported to have said. Bach was presumably of the same opinion, as the masterpiece occasionally served as practice material for his pupils. Fürchte dich nicht was performed at a funeral, just like two of the moving motets by Bach’s elder brother Johann Christoph.

Sven-David Sandström lends a contemporary echo to the Baroque motets. He lets the outlines of Bach’s music lead their own life and teaches them a whole new language. His transformation of Purcell’s Hear my prayer, o Lord even leaves the listener bewildered.

Guest conductor Grete Pedersen won over Dutch audiences with her Norske Solistkor during the Netherlands Chamber Choir’s anniversary project 150 Psalms. And in 2018, she was awarded a Diapason d’Or for her impressive Bach recording.