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Leipzig has a brand new music director, and expectations are running high for the city’s Christmas festivities. With Donald Macleod.

Christmas can be special wherever you live, but to experience a truly Christmassy Christmas, many would say that the only place to go is Germany. Plenty of Britain’s favourite Yuletide traditions originated there and Germany’s citizens have always had a special knack for celebrating this time of year. This was certainly true in JS Bach’s lifetime, and right through his career he produced quantities of amazing Christmas music that we still love and revere today. All this week, Donald Macleod invites us to join Bach and his family during the Christmas season, at five different periods in his life, to see how his story develops and revel in the glorious works he created for Christmastime.

Donald opens his series by dropping in on Bach to find him preparing for his very first Christmas in Leipzig. He’s been in his new job, as the city’s Music Director, for just a few months and the pressure is on! Everyone is watching to see if he can pull out all the stops for the biggest celebration of the year.

Chorale Prelude: Gott, durch deine Güte, BWV 600
John Butt, organ

Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91: Opening Chorus
Bach Collegium Japan Chorus, Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki

Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget, BWV 64: 5. Was die Welt in sich hält
Arleen Auger, soprano; Bach-Collegium Stuttgar;, conducted by Helmuth Rilling

Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40
Katherine Fuge, soprano; Joanne Lunn, soprano; Robin Tyson, alto; William Towers, alto; James Gilchrist, tenor; Peter Harvey, bass; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists; conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Prelude & Fugue in E-Flat Major, BWV 852
Wolfgang Rubsam, lute-harpsichord

Magnificat in E-Flat Major, BWV 243a: Movts. 10-16
Julia Doyle, soprano; Joanne Lunn, soprano; Clare Wilkinson, alto; Nicholas Mulroy, tenor; Matthew Brook, bass; Dunedin Consort, conducted by John Butt