It is something very special when compositions of a teacher and their student come together. Arranging this to take place at the Cathedral of St Mary in Freiberg makes the acoustic encounter even more remarkable. For the student had long been professionally affiliated with the cathedral, and in their time probably listened to a similar sound emerging from its Silbermann Organ, as we can enjoy today. Furthermore, all the sacred works performed here prescribe an obligato organ, making the choice of the location with its outstanding instrument mentioned above a particularly fitting one.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), then Cantor at St Thomas, and his student Johann Friedrich Doles (1715–1797) have enjoyed a long acquaintance which found its end after 11 years with Bach’s death. In Bach’s lifetime, of course no-one could anticipate that Bach’s student would become his second successor in 1756 and would remain the Cantor at St Thomas for a third of a century.

The CD at hand combines the Ratswahl Cantata “Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir”, BWV 29 (maybe Doles attended its second performance in 1739, only some months after he had come to Leipzig) and two cantatas by Doles which were written during his tenure as Cantor at St Thomas. Doles’s cantatas are recorded here for the very first time. Conducted by Freiberg Cathedral Cantor, Albrecht Koch, the CD unites a selected quartet of soloists, the Capella Vocale des Freiberger Domchores (a chamber choir) and one of the best ensembles for early music in Saxony, the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, which already is known for revitalising interesting works from the vaults. The Silbermann Organ is played by Johannes Unger, organist at St Mary’s, Lübeck.