Several generations of Bachs have been gathered by Richard Marlow and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge for their programme of motets. All of them have been recorded at various times in the past but many only infrequently, and one or two, perhaps, now make their first appearance on CD. There is no dull music here and two of the pieces, at least, are of outstanding expressive beauty. The earlier of these is Johann Bach’s profoundly affecting Unser Leben ist ein Schatten (“Our life is but a shadow”). This member of the clan survived both the Black Death and the savage bombardment of Erfurt during the Thirty Years War. His second wife belonged to the family which later, in the unforgettable words of the late Karl Geiringer “was to produce, to its lasting glory, the mother of Sebastian Bach”. It is hardly fanciful to read into Johann Bach’s poignant picture of the frailty of human life the terrifying circumstances that beset Germany in the first half of the seventeenth century. The other, Ich lasse dich nicht (“I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me”), is by Johann Christoph, the most original composer from among J. S. Bach’s forebears. Indeed, this eight-strand motet, divided into two antiphonal four-part groups was once thought to be by J.S.B. These two pieces are of exceptional merit, yet much else here hardly ranks beneath them and readers may well consider Johann Christoph’s brother Johann Michael’s Halt, was du hast, which affectingly incorporates verses of the hymn Jesu, meine Freude and its associated melody, to be on a comparably elevated level.
The single piece by which J. S. Bach is represented here is not quite what it seems. The Psalm motet Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt was first ascribed to Bach by his pupil and son-in-law, Johann Christoph Altnickol, who also made the earliest copy of it. Yet the piece is clearly an arrangement, very possibly by Bach himself, of his own music derived from a Christmas Cantata No. 28 (section 2 of the motet), music by Telemann (section 3) and music, perhaps by Telemann (section 1).
The performances are very good indeed, with notably well-sustained singing by the women’s voices to whom the soprano and alto parts are allotted. There are some unfortunate lapses in pitch here and there, as in the opening section of Ich lasse dich nicht; though these are small weaknesses which hardly spoil one’s enjoyment, it would have been easy to correct them. Of greater concern, perhaps, is the effect of the Trinity College Chapel acoustic on the more intimate of the motets. It is partly a matter of personal taste, for the recorded sound is excellent, but in these surroundings the expressive fervour and highly imaginative word-painting of Unser Leben ist ein Schatten, for example, comes over as somewhat diluted and impersonal. But Marlow’s direction is sensitive to text and music alike, and the programme is a delight from beginning to end. A valuable addition to the catalogue.'