Bach’s Cantata ‘Gottes Zeit ist die Allerbeste Zeit’, also known as ‘Actus Tragicus’ was written when he was twenty-two. It is a work of incredible genius such as even great masters seldom achieve, and belongs to the great musical literature of the world.

Featuring an unusual scoring of two viola da gamba and two recorders, this is one of Bach’s most profoundly beautiful of all cantatas. This concert showcases these intimate instruments alongside the music of Bach’s contemporary Georg Philipp Telemann whose 250th anniversary we mark this year.

JS Bach Sonata for Viola da gamba and Harpsichord in D, BWV 1028
Telemann Concerto for Viola da gamba and Recorder, TWV 52:a1
Buxtehude Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BuxWV 76
JS Bach Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 (Actus Tragicus)