Handel - Coronation Anthems & Bach Cantata 51 - Cambridge
7 December 2019, 22:00St John’s Voices performed a varied programme on Saturday 7th December 2019 in the resplendent College Chapel at St. John’s College in Cambridge. I played first trumpet in the Cambridge Baroque Camerata, led by Jane Gordon (violin) and conducted by Graham Walker, with fellow trumpet players Will Russell (second trumpet) and Gareth Hoddinott (third trumpet) in the section.
The performance began with Handel’s Zadok the Priest from the Coronation Anthems, before segueing into Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen [BWV 51], which was performed by Russell Gilmour (trumpet) and the fantastic soloist Jess Kinney (soprano). It featured fantastic cello contributions from Henrik Persson in the Aria Höchster, mache deine Güte and brilliant duetting violinists Jane Gordon and Sarah Moffatt in Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren.
The performance combined ‘grandeur with gentleness and excitement with repose’ and the Coronation Anthems were ‘juxtaposed with Bach's magnificent and effervescent cantata 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen’.
The choir shone in the Coronation Anthems and BWV 118, and Jess Kinney made light work of BWV 51. During the performance I realised that this might be my final Cantata 51 (and Coronation Anthems, for that matter) this decade! I reminisced about many of the enjoyable previous occasions I have had the thrill of playing this piece. Most recently with Katharine Dain (soprano) at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, more distantly - a very memorable one with Joanne Lunn (soprano) for Deutschland Radio Kultur in a performance in Kaiserslautern in 2014, and the first occasion that I performed it [professionally], with Louise Alder (soprano) in Moscow, Russia in December 2011. It’s quite comforting to think that all that has happened within only one decade and I look forward to many more performances of BWV 51 (and Bach, generally) in 2020 and beyond.
The performance began with Handel’s Zadok the Priest from the Coronation Anthems, before segueing into Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen [BWV 51], which was performed by Russell Gilmour (trumpet) and the fantastic soloist Jess Kinney (soprano). It featured fantastic cello contributions from Henrik Persson in the Aria Höchster, mache deine Güte and brilliant duetting violinists Jane Gordon and Sarah Moffatt in Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren.
The performance combined ‘grandeur with gentleness and excitement with repose’ and the Coronation Anthems were ‘juxtaposed with Bach's magnificent and effervescent cantata 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen’.
For further contrast, the performance also featured Bach’s funeral motet ‘O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht’ BWV 118[a], favouring the version with oboes and strings, as opposed to the early brass version (with 3 sackbutts, one cornett and two lituui). BWV 118a featured the undulating, sensitive oboe [da caccia] playing of Leo Duarte and Sarah Humphrys.St John's Voices with the Cambridge Baroque Camerata, 7:30pm 07.12.19 - performing Coronation Anthems by G F Handel & J S Bach's Jauchzet Gott BWV 51. Tickets (£15) available from https://t.co/ToKun8vhxb or 01223 300085https://t.co/FESFoEgRqf @SJCChoir pic.twitter.com/dO6uCxQVAo— SJCS Cambridge (@SJCS_Cambridge) December 2, 2019
The choir shone in the Coronation Anthems and BWV 118, and Jess Kinney made light work of BWV 51. During the performance I realised that this might be my final Cantata 51 (and Coronation Anthems, for that matter) this decade! I reminisced about many of the enjoyable previous occasions I have had the thrill of playing this piece. Most recently with Katharine Dain (soprano) at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, more distantly - a very memorable one with Joanne Lunn (soprano) for Deutschland Radio Kultur in a performance in Kaiserslautern in 2014, and the first occasion that I performed it [professionally], with Louise Alder (soprano) in Moscow, Russia in December 2011. It’s quite comforting to think that all that has happened within only one decade and I look forward to many more performances of BWV 51 (and Bach, generally) in 2020 and beyond.
Russell Gilmour

writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.
Russell Gilmour's innovative new book, 'Just' Natural Trumpet, is now available: please click here for more information.
Aurora Orchestra
Bach
Baroque
Baroque Style
BBC Proms
Beethoven
Berlioz
Biber
Brandenburg
Brandenburg Baroque Soloists
Brass Instrument Making
Broadcast
Chronicles
Classical
Concert
Cornetto
Education Outreach
English Slide Trumpet
Engraving
Festival
France
Germany
Gorczycki
Guts and Glory
Göttingen Handel Festival
Handel
Haydn
Historic Royal Palaces
Horn
Instrument
Instrument Making
Interview
Isle of Man
Keyed Trumpet
Kuhnau
Le Concert Lorrain
Lecture
Leipzig
Les Talens Lyriques
London
Masterclass
Modern Trumpet
Monteverdi
Mozart
Museum
Music
Natural Trumpet
Natural Trumpet Courses
OAE
OAEducation
Opera
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Oxford
Period Costume
Photography
Poland
Purcell
Radio Broadcast
Recording
Renaisannce
Review
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Society of Musicians
Schelle
Schütz
Shakespeare
Solomon's Knot
Spain
Spiritato!
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Switzerland
Taverner Consort
Teaching
Telemann
The English Concert
The Netherlands
The Section
Tour
Touring
Toyota Classics Tour 2018
Travel
Trumpet
Trumpet and Organ
Venice
Ventless
Vivaldi
Vox Luminis
Wedding
Wigmore Hall
Workshop
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
York
Zelenka
Zugtrompete
‘Just’ Natural Trumpet
Bach
Baroque
Baroque Style
BBC Proms
Beethoven
Berlioz
Biber
Brandenburg
Brandenburg Baroque Soloists
Brass Instrument Making
Broadcast
Chronicles
Classical
Concert
Cornetto
Education Outreach
English Slide Trumpet
Engraving
Festival
France
Germany
Gorczycki
Guts and Glory
Göttingen Handel Festival
Handel
Haydn
Historic Royal Palaces
Horn
Instrument
Instrument Making
Interview
Isle of Man
Keyed Trumpet
Kuhnau
Le Concert Lorrain
Lecture
Leipzig
Les Talens Lyriques
London
Masterclass
Modern Trumpet
Monteverdi
Mozart
Museum
Music
Natural Trumpet
Natural Trumpet Courses
OAE
OAEducation
Opera
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Oxford
Period Costume
Photography
Poland
Purcell
Radio Broadcast
Recording
Renaisannce
Review
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Society of Musicians
Schelle
Schütz
Shakespeare
Solomon's Knot
Spain
Spiritato!
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Switzerland
Taverner Consort
Teaching
Telemann
The English Concert
The Netherlands
The Section
Tour
Touring
Toyota Classics Tour 2018
Travel
Trumpet
Trumpet and Organ
Venice
Ventless
Vivaldi
Vox Luminis
Wedding
Wigmore Hall
Workshop
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
York
Zelenka
Zugtrompete
‘Just’ Natural Trumpet