‘Glorious Bach!’ is an apt title both for the music and the performances under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at his most electrifying. However‚ it seems incredible that whoever supervised the transfer to disc of the Austrian Television (ORF) recording of this Advent concert‚ made live at the beautiful Baroque Kloster Melk Monastery‚ should allow only three tracks for music lasting almost 80 minutes‚ tracks respectively of 16‚ 32 and 29 minutes. All the more incomprehensible when Cantata No 147 contains the best­loved of all Bach cantata movements‚ ‘Jesu‚ joy of man’s desiring’. Did no one in the TDK team conceive of any purchaser wanting to go straight to that favourite item? As it is‚ with fast­forward on DVD so slow – one of its great limitations as yet – it is a ponderous process for anyone to find the place at 16'30" in a track lasting over half an hour. (It is not even as though it would be difficult for tracks to be put between all the separate movements of each work.) Further‚ the documentation does not even list the movements‚ let alone provide the texts and translations of either the cantatas or the Magnificat‚ although one may programme the DVD via the menu to present subtitles while screening the programme. On the other hand there’s no faulting these fine performances. One of the joys of the camera­work is the way that Harnoncourt’s face is highlighted at the start of each item‚ his eyes bulging wide‚ the whites showing‚ mouth open and eyebrows raised‚ a man obsessed‚ wildly determined to get his singers and players to bring out the drama of these two fine Advent cantatas and the Magnificat. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir‚ some 40­odd strong for the cantatas‚ augmented to 60 or so for the Magnificat‚ sing with fervour throughout‚ and though I could have done with fewer close­ups of the soloists as they mouth their words‚ their singing is consistently fine‚ stylish and cleanly focused. Anna Korondi’s creamy tone is nicely contrasted with the fresh‚ bright tones of the first soprano‚ Christine Schäfer. Unlike the others‚ Korondi appears only in the Magnificat. In slow movements Harnoncourt keeps a characteristic touch of abrasiveness in his period style‚ but these are performances which come like a breath of fresh air‚ highly enjoyable.