‘Bach, master of reuse and recycling’

In his Missae Breves Bach wrote four tense masses which, in terms of musical richness, are not outdone by his great Mass in b, BWV 232. In the Missa brevis, BWV 235 Bach demonstrates his mastery in absorbing a variety of contemporary musical styles. The other works in the concert have been included to shine a light on several outstanding arrangements by this German grandmaster. Bach rearranged Antonio Lotti’s festive Missa Sapientiae to make it his own. Kuhnau’s motet Der Gerechte kommt um, also bathes in the Bach idiom. The ideal interpreter of the Bach influence in these baroque works is the temperamental Cappella Mediterranae.