Hyperion Records

The cantata Christus, der ist mein Leben (‘Christ is my life’) was probably composed for the feast of Mary’s Purification (2 February). With four violins and four violas as well as five voices the work is scored extraordinarily festively. All eight stanzas of the Hymn on which the cantata is based appear in two versions, first as changing combinations of the solo parts without reference to a cantus firmus, then with the melody accompanied by free figuration in the four violins. This creates a rondo-like structure, which repeatedly moves the simple Hymn into the centre.

from notes by Peter Wollny © 2001
English: Viola Scheffel