"The Bach motets are considered one of the summits of the choral repertory. Their technical and aesthetic challenges are virtually unparalleled. New College approaches these works with its customary zest and energy, strongly characterizing the forward impulse of the music, and its dramatic qualities.
A debate turns around the numbers of singers Bach would have called upon to sing these pieces. What is abundantly clear is that institutional resources dictated the choice, as they do at New College. If New College’s ensemble is slightly larger then Bach’s, both groups, across three hundred years, are composed largely of student voices. This music is for a rising generation of musicians: an exemplar of excellence in polyphonic composition and singing."

Presto Classical

Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227)
1     Jesu, meine Freude 
2     Es is nun nichts 
3     Unter deinem Schirmen 
4     Denn das Gesetz 
5     Trotz dem alten Drachen 

6     Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich 
7     Weg mit allen Schätzen 
8     So aber Christus 
9     Gute Nacht 
10   So nun der Geist 
11   Weicht, ihr Trauergeister 

Lobet den Herrn (BWV 230)
12   Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden 

Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229)
13   Komm, Jesu, komm 
14   Drum schliess ich 

Fürchte dich nicht (BWV 228)
15   Fürchte dich nicht 

Der Geist hilft (BWV 226)
16   Der Geist hilft 
17   Der aber die Herzen 
18   Du heilige Brunst 

Singet dem Herrn (BWV 225)
19   Singet dem Herrn 
20   Wie sich ein Vater 
21   Lobet den Herrn in seinen Taten 

Total Playing time: 70'34''   DDD
Recorded in New College Chapel, Oxford, July 2008
Released December 2009; re-released on Novum October 2010
Novum: NCR 1381