J. S. Bach: Kothener Trauermusik [CD], Solomon's Knot, CD

For it's first album on Linn, Solomon's Knot performs one of Bach's most fascinating works. Although not a single note of the Kothener Trauermusik survives, almost every other detail of the performance does: we know it's date, the first performers, the librettist and the libretto. Reconstructed by Chad Kelly from various sources, chief among them Bach's first version of the Matthaus-Passion, this work was commissioned for both performance and this live recording by Solomon's Knot. Kelly's reconstruction does not claim to be definitive; such certainty is unattainable and beside the point. Instead, he uses carefully considered creative licence to bring to life two elements central to the original: the sincerity of the text, and the context of the occasion for which it was written. As 'one of the UK's most innovative and imaginative ensembles' (The Observer), the Baroque music collective Solomon's Knot is in full swing in this performance recorded at the Dreieinigkeitskirche during the Tage Alter Musik Regensburg festival.