Koor en Orkest Collegium Vocale Gent - Philippe Herreweghe

'Jesu deine Passion' is the first line of the closing chorale in Bach's cantata 'Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem'. The words of this chorale might easily form the thread running through this varied and at first sight surprising and unexpected programme: the Passion of Jesus Christ as the ultimate redemption for each individual. Three of Bach's cantatas are brought face to face with a completely different approach to the subject in Lotti's 'Crucifixus', conceived as an independent motet and almost painfully intense. It is possible that the biggest discovery offered in this concert will be the concise but quite perfect motet 'Tristis est anima mea' by Johann Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor as the cantor at the Thomaskirche in Liepzig. His quite unusual use of Latin in a Lutheran context forced Kuhnau to return to a somewhat archaic style whose countless minor details nevertheless made it exceptionally communicative. Bach himself performed this piece many times and later, in his own motets, explored the expressive boundaries of the genre as Kuhnau had shown him.