A composer of true genius, Johann Sebastian Bach was familiar with the musical styles and forms of every nation. He composed for all the known instruments of his time and for soloists of great virtuosity. If he is usually considered as the father of German music, as a very serious composer, a manager and Lutheran, it is because we all too often forget that behind this historic figure is a man who enjoyed the good life, his friends, intellectual debates and even Italian opera.

Bach’s BWV 201, 205 and 213 are veritable miniature operas, imbued with Italian vocality, humour and joie de vivre. They reveal an extraordinarily expressive richness with the conciseness of the pocket theatre.

'Der Streit zwischen Phöbus und Pan' (The contest between Phoebus and Pan, BWV201) is a musical jousting match between the intimate and harmonious beauty of Phoebus and the galant and less subtle charm of Pan. Bach champions Phoebus’ cause with a force worthy of the 'Goldberg Variations' and 'A Musical Offering'.

For 'Der zufriedengestellte Äolus' (Äolus satisfied, BWV205), Bach calls upon the most varied musical forces of all his works. Nature’s raging is depicted with an intensity and violence worthy of the greatest operatic scenes, and human emotion is present throughout.

This box-set includes a bonus DVD recorded live at the Ambronay Festival in 2011, 'Die Wahl des Herkules' (The choice of Hercules), illustrating a third facet of this lesser-known secular Bach with pages which were later adapted and re-used for the 'Christmas Oratorio'.

“I am fascinated by these works which allow me to feel much closer to Bach ‘the man’. I believe it is time to put them back into their context and to imagine them invested with the original intention of the composer, with a mood of ebullient artistic enthusiasm, loyal friendship, scholarly erudition, a homely spirit – all accompanied with a coffee or a beer and the ‘presence’ of someone who is, in my opinion, the greatest artist of all time.” - Leonardo García Alarcón

2 CDs + 1 DVD